Comfort
by cr8zymommy
Summary: SLASH Hotch/Morgan/Reid - a gift for a friend. A short turned into more lol not sure what it'll end up being!
1. Chapter 1

**This short one-shot is dedicated to my friend Tia. She wanted a Hotch/Morgan/Reid story, so I made this one shot and plan on making her a story as well, which I might post as a continuance of this clip if anyone else would like it. otherwise I'll just send it to her, lol, and let her keep it for herself. I enjoy this three way pairing, it's a lot of fun and one I think I could enjoy. Any story that goes with this later won't be extremely long (at least that I plan. who knows what my muse plans?) But I will write more. It's just a matter of it people want me to post it or not. let me know!**

**If anyone who reads these has a request for something they'd like to see, feel free to send it to me! I take all requests, though some I try and don't work. I am always willing to try, though! Hope anyone out there enjoys this. Tia, this is for you girl, enjoy the heck out of it. I'll have more for you soon!**

**I don't own them and I never will. But I own Chester, WA-seeing as how I made up the town ;)**

* * *

Slouching slightly in his seat, Spencer let his eyes drift shut as his mind traveled over the case details. He was tucked into the back of the jet away from everyone, needing to try and think and not wanting to be distracted, something that everyone was well used to. When he got this way, they always left him to his thoughts unless they needed him for something important.

The jet was carrying them all to Chester, Washington where young women were being abducted and murdered. His mind scanned through the facts he'd read about each woman, trying to find the connection between them to help with victimology. Part of it was obvious; age, gender, hair color and length, eyes, figure. But they needed to see if there was something more that tied them together. Something that might link back to their Unsub. He should have known better than to think about that while so tired; he drifted off to sleep with their images in his mind. It was almost natural for the nightmare to start.

Two sets of eyes were drawn to him when he started to whimper slightly in his sleep, shifting around a little. Those eyes made a quick sweep of the jet, nothing that everyone was toward the front and were sleeping, and then went to one another. Without a single word between them, the men rose and moved toward where Spencer sat.

Morgan reached him first. He looked up to the front one last time and then slid into the seat next to Spencer. One of his hands came up to stroke back Spencer's hair while the other slid over his thigh. "Spencer." He murmured low in the young man's ear. "Come on, baby boy. It's just a bad dream. Come on now, everything's ok."

Sliding into the seat across from them, Aaron Hotchner reached over the table to let his hand rest over top of Spencer's which were curled in his lap. "Spencer, wake up." He said in a low, firm voice. "This is just a nightmare. You're safe, everyone is safe. Come on, now."

The combination of the two voices was doing the trick. They could see as Spencer slowly started to come back to himself before his eyes suddenly jerked open, a gasp catching on his lips. His eyes jerked from Morgan to Aaron before dropping down to his lap. Little trembles ran down his lithe frame. "Sorry." He mumbled.

The hand on his leg and the one holding his both squeezed gently. Even if someone woke up, no one would see their touches, tucked back in the corner the way they were. Knowing that, Aaron let his thumb caress the side of Spencer's hands. "Don't apologize for bad dreams." He told him gently. Anyone else would have been shocked to hear that gentle of a tone coming from Aaron toward one of his subordinates. Morgan and Spencer didn't bat an eye. Something about Spencer drew out the gentle side in the two alpha males.

Morgan stroked over Spencer's hair again, trying to help calm the trembles. "You fell asleep thinking about the case, didn't you?" He smiled at the young man. "You know that gives you nightmares, baby boy."

"I was looking for patterns." Spencer explained. His voice was low, cracking slightly in a way that told the other two profilers exactly how bad his dream had been. They both responded automatically. Morgan scooted a little closer, not caring if anyone looked up and managed to see him, moving his hand from Spencer's leg to wrap it around his waist and snuggle in with him. Aaron tightened his grip on Spencer's hand and moved his feet forward, letting their legs twine together under the table. They both knew that the best thing for Spencer after a nightmare was positive contact. It grounded him and reminded him of the good things in life.

Biting his lip, Spencer looked from one to the other, love in his eyes. "Thanks."

"We're here for you, Spencer. No matter what else is going on, we'll be here for you." Aaron reminded. Out of them all, Spencer was the most unsure of himself, the one that needed the most reassurance in their relationship. That was what these three had together; a relationship. It wasn't just friends and it wasn't just for the sex, though both were wonderful and important. What they shared as a trio went beyond that. There was love shared between them as well as respect. Even need. In their own way, each one needed the other. As a unit they felt whole.

Though they said nothing about their relationship, they knew the others had to suspect something. Maybe not the three of them together, but at least some kind of pairing. Aaron had watched the others and the conclusion he came to was that the others thought Morgan and Spencer were secretly dating and that they'd only told Aaron. He could tell that they thought that Morgan and Spencer spent time with him because he was their only friend that knew about them. If they only knew the truth!

He let that image grow, though. It served a purpose for them. They'd agreed that it was ok for others to assume that Morgan and Spencer were dating since, in a way they really were. If the brass ever found out about the relationship, Aaron could do his best to protect them. But if it came out that the three of them were in a relationship, well, he didn't image it would go over very well. With him in the relationship with them, he wouldn't be able to protect them as well if things came out to the brass. So he fostered the idea that he was only their friend. It didn't bother him.

Sometimes it was hard on Spencer—though not for the reasons others might have thought—and in turn that made it hard on them. Aaron and Morgan had learned early on in this little triangle that Spencer had more self-doubt than they'd ever suspected. He was quick to take blame for something and just as quick to expect people to walk away from him. In little ways the two worked to make sure that Spencer understood how important he was to them. How absolutely vital he was in their lives. But when they were on cases and they couldn't indulge in those little moments for long periods of time, they had to keep a close watch to make sure Spencer wasn't starting to think it was because of him.

He was embarrassed by it, stating once that a normal person wouldn't be so insecure. Both Aaron and Morgan had reassured him that he was perfectly normal and his insecurity was understandable and that they didn't mind at all, which they didn't. That was part and parcel of Spencer and neither would change him for the world.

Spencer chewed on his lip nervously, but his body had shifted toward Morgan and his foot wrapped lightly around Aaron's calf. "I know you guys will be here for me." He spoke low to make sure no one heard him. "I just feel puerile sometimes for needing it as often as I do."

"Puerile?" Morgan asked him.

Smiling, Aaron looked over at his dark lover. "Childish or childlike. Silly, in a sense"

Nodding in understanding, Morgan looked back over at Spencer. His eyes darted to make sure no one was awake before he indulged himself by kissing the younger man's temple. "Nightmares in our line of work are normal, not childish. Plus, your nightmares are getting less and less, Spencer. You rarely have them anymore."

A blush crept into Spencer's cheeks. He looked down at where Aaron's hand still held his. "I feel safe, sleeping between you two." His voice was so low they almost couldn't hear it. "I generally only have them now when I sleep alone. You guys keep them at bay for me. You…you make me feel safe."

Before either of them could say anything to that comment, the announcement came for their descent. Spencer pulled back to himself while the other two sat back as well. Aaron opened the file in front of him before buckling his seatbelt. Morgan had just detached himself from Spencer and was putting on his buckle when the others started to sit up and stretch, buckling themselves in as well. The three men shared a brief, secret smile before jumping right into a discussion of the case as if that was what they'd been doing the whole time. Trembles finally gone, Spencer gave his opinion that there was something more than looks that tied the victims together. Nothing about the scene looked amiss. Unless someone would have bent and looked under the table. Morgan's leg and Spencer's were pressed against one another. Spencer's other leg was stretched forward, twined still with Aaron's, and Aaron's other leg was forward enough that his and Morgan's shoes bumped slightly. The three were twined together, just the way they liked to be.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN Ok here's the thing – I'm changing things just a little, so I guess this is considered a little AU. I'd like Hayley to have left Aaron a long time ago, lol. Like, right after Jack was born. I also want her to know about the trio. Now, I do not like or dislike Hayley's character and I don't want any flames on how I write her in this, so please, don't get upset with me for how she is. That's the only real detail I'm changing, though. Also, this fic is set before Foyet murders her, obviously. Does that cover everything? If it doesn't, please feel free to tell me where I messed up and I'll fix it!**

**This story will not be updated as regularly as my other stories. It's more...when the mood strikes me. So I won't be reliable on this one, but I guarantee at least a chapter a week for it. Not sure where it's going or what's going to happen, but my friend wants more and she wants it posted and some of you out there seem to like it lol. Thanks for reading and please, R&R!**

* * *

Things had moved quickly when they arrived in Chester. The team had cars waiting for them at the airstrip. They'd piled in, heading to the station and discussing the case the whole way there in both cars. When they arrived, Spencer had his nose buried in the file, trying to figure out what seemed off in the autopsy report he held. He barely paid any attention when he got out of the car. Automatically, Emily and Morgan walked on either side of him, knowing the young genius tended to blank out when he was reading and thinking and they wanted to prevent him from running into anything.

Aaron was the first to reach the front door and after he went through, he held it for the next person. Dave chuckled, watching as Emily held the door and Morgan nudged the young doctor inside, all of which was done without Spencer ever looking up from his folder. He had that furrow between his eyebrows that told anyone who knew him that he was thinking. A soft voice spoke at Dave's side, reminding him that there was someone with them who didn't know any of them well yet. "Wow. Is Dr. Reid always that blind to things around him?" Ashley Seaver asked.

She'd only been with them for a few weeks now and she was still trying to figure out the dynamic of the team. She didn't know all of their little quirks yet and often looked to Dave for help. He didn't mind assisting her. Giving her a smile, he held the door for her to pass through. "You see that little furrow between Reid's eyebrows? The way he's biting on his lip while he looks at that file?"

"Yeah."

"That's one of his thinking faces. You'll learn to recognize them all." Dave told her. He smiled, lowering his voice as they caught up to the group. "When he thinks that hard, the rest of the world tends to disappear. We've all taken turns on Reid duty when he gets that way. If not, well, he's been known to run into things or knock people over…"

"You warning her about Reid?" Morgan joked when they reached him.

They were stopped from any further comments when the chief walked over. Aaron stepped forward, extending his hand. "Chief Jordan? It's nice to meet you. I'm Agent Hotchner. This is my team; Agents Rossi, Morgan, Prentiss, Seaver and Dr. Reid."

Spencer looked down at the file in his hands, vaguely mumbling his hello, still focusing on the numbers on the paper in front of him. He let himself be led to wherever they were working, recognizing Morgan's hand on his elbow steering him. He knew he could trust Morgan to make sure he went to the right place and stayed out of trouble.

Once he was released, Spencer chewed on his lip and started to pace, closing the first file and opening the one he'd held underneath it. Even though he'd already read these and remembered what was in them, he hoped looking at them would help his brain make the connection that he felt he was missing. He looked up, not really paying any attention to the conversations going around him. "Do we have the autopsy report on the newest victim? That wasn't with our files."

Chief Jordan nodded and grabbed a file from the table, handing it over. With a brief smile as thanks, Spencer took the file and opened it, setting it down on the end of the table. He read through it quickly, his mind adding the information to what was already in his head. He didn't see the strange look he got as his gaze shot over the words, flipping the pages until he had all the information.

Straightening back up, Spencer let his mind wander over what he'd read, adding together all the connections between them. He'd read the reports on each girl; knew all the information that was possible about them right now. Now he had the added information of the autopsies in there. Each woman had the same look to them, making it easier to narrow down victimology. He started to pace a little, moving toward the board that had been set up with pictures on it. Each woman had also been dosed with Rohypnol, the date rape drug. Most likely the method of abduction. That meant that the Unsub probably wasn't strong enough to subdue them on his own. All of that had already talked about on the jet, though.

What was confusing him was the information in the autopsy reports. Each woman had been covered in some kind of oil—what it was wasn't listed. He needed to ask if they'd discovered it yet. There was also a large amount of the herb damiana in each woman's system. Why on earth had they all ingested that herb?

Each woman had been raped repeatedly ante mortem. Cause of death was strangulation in each case, followed by multiple post-mortem stab wounds. There were seven victims so far. There was no pattern to the amount of stabs. All of them were unnecessary; the women were already dead. It was pure rage that caused him to act out like this as well as a need to defile the bodies, even after death .The amount of stabbing in each victim ranged from nineteen to twenty eight.

Feeling someone step up beside him, Spencer didn't take his eyes off the pictures in front of him as he asked "Has anyone established what the oil on the victims' bodies is?"

"Um, I'm not sure. I don't think so." Ashley answered him.

Someone else behind him spoke up. "Actually, we just gathered that information, Dr. Reid. Our analysis came back and said that it's sandalwood oil."

Surprise had Spencer turning around, his eyes clearing as his brain came back to the present moment. "Sandalwood?" he asked with surprise. Of course! It made sense when you added it together with the damiana.

The officer in the room wasn't the chief who had been there before. In fact, Spencer realized that Aaron and Ashley were the only two in the room with them. Where had everyone else gone to? He shook his head to clear that thought and looked back at the officer, a nice looking guy who looked to be somewhere in his early thirties. Spencer missed the appreciative look the man was giving him. Aaron did not. He had to bite his tongue to keep himself from telling the officer to put his eyes somewhere else. Spencer was _his_.

Officer Shawn smiled and nodded. "Yeah. Apparently it covered each one of them pretty much from head to toe. Is that significant somehow? Seems kind of weird to me."

"No, no, it makes perfect sense." Spencer said quickly. He looked over to Aaron, raising his hands to gesture as he spoke. "Sandalwood oil is an essential oil obtained from the steam distillation of chips and billets cut from the heartwood of the sandalwood tree. Sandalwood oil is used in perfumes, cosmetics, and sacred unguents. It contains more than 90% sesquiterpenic alcohols of which 50-60% is the tricyclic α-santalol. β-Santalol comprises 20-25%. A study investigating the effects of inhalation of East Indian sandalwood oil and its main compound, α-santalol, on human physiological parameters found that the compounds elevated pulse rate, skin conductance, and systolic blood pressure."

"But why is he covering the women in it?" Ashley asked.

Spencer turned toward her, excited as he always was when giving out information. "Because of its properties, sandalwood oil is considered an aphrodisiac. Combine that with the Rohypnol they were given as well as the damiana and it's quite obvious what he's trying to do. He isn't just raping the women; he's trying to seduce them."

Looking over at the pictures, Aaron spoke in a thoughtful voice. "You think he's drugging their drinks when he thinks they're showing interest in him so he can take them somewhere to seduce them?" His tone was curious, lost in thought a little.

Nodding, Spencer's words tripped over one another as he spoke. "Damiana has been widely used as an aphrodisiac in Mexico. But the use of damiana as an aphrodisiac is somewhat controversial because there has been no scientific evidence that it works and yet it's widely promoted as a sexual stimulant. The health benefits of damiana are for the most part only verified by observation, not by scientific study. However, a chemical analysis shows that damiana contains alkaloids similar to caffeine that have stimulating and aphrodisiac effects, encouraging blood flow to the genital area and increasing sensitivity. Some people also report feelings of mild euphoria."

"So he goes somewhere and engages in conversation with a woman. Once he's convinced she's into him, he roofies her drink and takes her home. Then he rubs her down in oil and forces her to take an herb, both of which are used to increase the desire for sex." Summarizing, Ashley turned to look at the pictures as well. "He doesn't want to rape them. He's convinced that they're making love. That these women want this."

"And when they don't give him what he wants, he grows angry with them." Aaron added in. "He grows angry and chokes them until he kills them. Once they're dead, he most likely is furious the illusion is shattered. Hence the post mortem stabbing." Turning back toward Spencer, the Unit Chief gave him a small smile to let him know he'd done well. Then he was back to being the boss again. "Reid, I want you to start on a geographical profile. Ashley, you and I are going to go and interview a few of the victim families. Morgan and Prentiss should be back within the hour and Dave should be back any minute. He was going to get us the last box of files."

Nodding, Spencer moved toward the map and went to work while his co-worker and his lover left the room.

* * *

By the end of the day they had pieced together a profile to give to the officers at the station. But they were no closer to narrowing down their suspect list. So far no one had been able to ID anyone who'd been speaking to the girls on the night of their disappearances. Garcia was at work back in her lair, trying to sift through the footage she could to see if she might be able to catch an image of him. The geographical profile was built, hanging up on one of their many boards in the room.

It was Aaron and Dave both that finally decided they'd done enough for the night. "Come on, guys, let's head back to the hotel." Dave said suddenly to the team. Everyone looked up from the files they'd all been looking at. Aaron stood up, nodding at what Dave said. "We'll do better once we get some sleep. We'll tackle this with fresh eyes in the morning."

Standing, Spencer stretched slightly, trying to work out the kinks in his back from being bent over his work all day. Looking over, he saw Aaron standing, staring at the geographical profile, his body a tense line. A quick glance showed that the others were already far enough ahead that they wouldn't notice anything and no LEO's were nearby. So Spencer walked over, pausing to stand beside his older lover but not touching him. "Come on, Aaron. Let's get back to the hotel and I'll rub some of that tension out of your shoulders for you." He offered in a soft voice.

The quick look he received was full of love. A corner of Aaron's mouth quirked. "I think I'll take you up on that. God knows I could use it." He admitted. The two headed from the room, easily catching up with the others right as they exited the station. Dave, Ashley and Emily moved to one SUV with Dave going to the driver's seat. That left Morgan, Aaron and Spencer with the other one. Seeing that Morgan had the keys, Spencer resisted groaning out loud. Morgan caught it and flashed him a grin, dangling the keys from his fingers.

His grin vanished when Aaron walked over and snatched the keys from him. Spencer chuckled at the look on Morgan's face. He climbed into the backseat, sharing a quick grin with Aaron before Morgan slid into the passenger's seat. "I can drive just fine." Morgan protested sulkily.

"Sure you can." Aaron said in a dry voice. He waited until the doors were shut before starting the car up. "But I prefer to not race Dave to get there."

"Rossi drives like a grandma." Morgan shot back.

The sound of his lovers bickering with one another had Spencer smiling softly. He loved when they were alone, no matter where or when it was. When the three of them were away from prying eyes they all relaxed. They didn't put up any fronts or play any roles. They stopped being Hotch, Morgan and Reid and became Aaron, Derek and Spencer.

Aaron was chuckling while he drove toward the hotel. "He does, doesn't he?" He agreed with Morgan.

"He's a slower driver than Spencer."

Hearing that, Spencer scowled at the front seat. "I am not that slow, Derek Morgan. I can drive just fine. It's just habit to drive that way." He defended himself.

Morgan laughed and Aaron looked up, using his rearview mirror to flash a grin at Spencer. "You do drive slow, baby." Aaron told him with a chuckle. That only made Morgan laugh even more. Spencer's bottom lip stuck out and he crossed his arms, sitting back in his seat. "Oh, shut up." He grumbled at them.

They were still a couple blocks away from the hotel so there was no one around to see as Morgan turned and reached back, running his hand over Spencer's leg and giving him a sweet smile. "It's ok, baby boy. I love you even if you do drive slowly." Then he winked. "You're slow and I'm fast. Guess it's a good thing Aaron's here to be the perfect middle."

"I think I prefer someone else in the middle." Aaron's voice was lower, slightly husky, making his lovers shiver. They knew exactly what he meant. In their bed, Spencer was the 'middle'. He slept between them, sheltered by two warm bodies. Even during lovemaking, he generally ended up in the middle at some point or another, though they did alternate who was where for most of it. There was no real designated 'top' or 'bottom', but it always ended with Spencer in the middle of them. It was where they loved to have him and where he loved to be. Nothing was better than being sandwiched between his lovers.

Those thoughts were enough to pull Spencer out of his pout. He gave a slight shiver, the warmth of Morgan's hand against his leg suddenly a blaze. The hand was removed, though, when they pulled into the hotel parking lot. Spencer worked on controlling his breathing as best as he could; trying not to think about the sexual promise in Aaron's words.

Aaron turned off the car once he parked. In the dark around them, Aaron murmured "When I booked the rooms, we all got our own this time, so I put myself at the end, with you next, Derek, and Spencer after him. Then Dave. Emily and Seaver are next to each other across from Spencer and Dave. So once everyone is settled, come down to my room. We'll be further away from everyone." It was a benefit to Aaron taking on some of JJ's duties; he took care of booking hotels. Garcia had offered to take that part on, but Aaron had told her it was part he didn't mind doing and he'd rather she focused on other areas. In reality, he used it to arrange their rooms just right so there was always someone further away from the others. That was the room they met up in. That way, there was less chance of being heard.

The other two nodded and then the three of them were climbing from their vehicle right as Dave pulled in and parked beside them. "Told you we'd beat him here." Morgan said, purposely waiting until Dave was able to hear him before he said it.

Dave shot him a mock glare. "You just watch it. I notice you didn't get to drive, Morgan."

The teasing continued into the hotel. Spencer let it wash over him, a familiar sound that never failed to make him smile. It also gave him something to focus on instead of the anticipation that was building in his stomach. He stayed back, his eyes traveling over Aaron as the older man moved to collect there keys from the desk.

A little furrow formed between Spencer's eyebrows. Something was going on with Aaron today. He hadn't been rude or short or anything like that, but there was an underlying hint of tension that Spencer kept seeing. Not constant, but often enough to tell him that there was something more than the case that was bothering him.

He felt Morgan move to stand beside him and he looked around, seeing the others move up after Aaron. Now was the best private moment to speak to Morgan. "Something's bothering Aaron." He muttered quietly, sneaking a glance at Morgan's expression. One look told him that Morgan had seen it too.

"I know." He replied. For a second, concern flashed on his face, put back under a mask quickly. "He's too tense. You think everything's ok with Jack?"

The idea hadn't occurred to Spencer. He chewed on his lip as he pondered it. "I hope so. I think that, if that was the case, he'd be more than just tense. Also, he would have told us. This is something he hasn't brought up yet, which means he doesn't know what to say. My guess? Hayley."

Morgan winced a little. Ever since Hayley had found out about the three of them, things hadn't been well between her and Aaron. She didn't approve of their lifestyle and didn't think it was appropriate to expose Jack to. When she'd tried to tell Aaron that he couldn't have his son unless his boyfriends stayed away, Aaron had almost blown his top. Spencer and Morgan had hurried to tell him that they'd stay away; they didn't want to mess with his time with his son, but Aaron had stood his ground and told her that she wasn't going to dictate who was in his life. He agreed to not having them stay the night, but that was the only concession he was willing to make. She'd accepted. Now, there was an uneasy alliance between them, fragile and always in danger of being broken. If something had happened between Aaron and her, the two men were determined to do what they could to be there for him.


	3. Chapter 3

**Just a short little fluff bit :)**

* * *

In his hotel room, Aaron sat down on the edge of the bed, his back facing toward the door. He had one hand up, rubbing at his nose between his eyes to try and stave off the headache that was building while his other hand held the phone to his ear. He listened to the voice on the other end and had to resist the urge to sigh. It was the same thing, every time. No matter what the argument started with it always ended up back in the same place.

When the voice on the other end paused, he tried once again to end this stupid fight before it could go further. "I'm sorry that you see a problem with this. I didn't foresee that it would be an issue or I would have handled the situation differently. But it is what it is and I can't go back and change it."

"You don't see a problem here?" Hayley demanded. She sounded absolutely livid.

They'd had this conversation earlier before Garcia had brought him the case that would take them to Chester. Sitting in his office, Aaron had been arguing with Hayley on the phone, badly enough that he'd actually been grateful that Garcia had brought him a case. Anything to get him off the phone. But now he was stuck once again in the same argument.

All of this had started when Hayley found out that Jack had stayed at the house with Morgan and Spencer while Aaron had run to the grocery store to pick up items for dinner. Why that was a problem, he couldn't really understand. The two were grown men and fully capable of watching Jack for one single hour on their own. The boy had enjoyed his time with his 'Uncles'. When Aaron had returned home, Jack had been excited to show him the new magic trick Uncle Spencer had taught him.

Apparently he'd also showed the trick to his mother once he'd been back with her and had told her about spending time with his Uncles while Daddy was at the store. That was the whole reason Hayley was mad at him now; because he'd left their son with the two men for an hour. Aaron knew she hated the relationship he was in almost as much as she hated his job. She'd told him what she thought of the 'perversion' of being with not just one man, but with two. But to get upset over leaving Jack with them? That was beyond Aaron's understanding. It wasn't like the two were pedophiles or anything like that. They'd entertained the boy and everyone had had a good time!

Aaron continued to rub at the bridge of his nose. His headache was slowly growing. "No, Hayley, I don't. Jack wasn't injured in any way. He had a good time with them, learned a new magic trick, and was completely unharmed when I got home."

"You should have taken him with you! Bad enough he has to be subjected to your…_relationship_. He doesn't need to be left alone with those two!"

"I understand you're upset about this, but there's nothing I can do to change the past, Hayley. I'm sorry you're upset. What more do you want me to say?"

"Nothing. Absolutely nothing, Aaron." With that last remark, she hung up on him. He looked down at his phone and sighed before closing it. For just a moment he sat there, holding the phone in his hands, staring at it. How had they reached the point that they fought over something so simple? At one point in time there had been love between them. Now, they could barely stand being in the same room with one another for more than a few minutes. Any visit, any phone call, ended up in a fight if Jack wasn't with them. That was one thing they made sure of; Jack never saw them fight.

A light rap at his door drew Aaron from his thoughts. He sighed before setting his phone down and rising to go answer the door. When he opened it, Spencer was on the other side. Instantly concern filled those hazel depths. Without a word Spencer stepped in, shutting the door behind him and then moving right to Aaron. The older man opened his arms automatically, letting Spencer cuddle in against him. Their cheeks pressed together, a soothing gesture all on its own. Spencer said nothing, just held him, giving a silent message of love and support.

They stood that way until there was another rap on the door. Spencer shifted away from Aaron to peek through the peephole. Then, one arm still around Aaron, he opened the door and let Morgan in. Their dark lover walked in, letting the door close while his eyes took in the scene before him. Compassion was written on his face when he moved forward to take Spencer's place, embracing Aaron.

Hugs with Spencer were always supportive and loving. Aaron cradled the young man to him, holding him tight, feeling a little stronger from knowing that someone was in his arms that trusted him to care for him. By showing weakness, Spencer made Aaron feel stronger. Hugs with Morgan were different. Instead of hugging, he was the one being hugged. The strength in Morgan's arms and the love that was there gave Aaron strength in turn. He knew Morgan would always be there to hold him up when he couldn't hold himself up anymore. Morgan would be a rock for him when he couldn't be one for himself. Together, the two were exactly what Aaron needed at any given time.

Some of Aaron's tension dissipated as it always did when they were together. He relaxed in Morgan's arms, feeling Spencer slide up behind him, sandwiching him between them.

When the two pulled apart from him, they didn't leave him standing there. Aaron found himself led toward the bed and sat down on the edge of it with them on either side of him. Morgan kept an arm around his shoulders while Spencer curled a hand over his thigh. "Talk to us, Aaron." Spencer said gently. His hand rubbed lightly at Aaron's thigh. "Tell us what's been bothering you today."

How was he supposed to tell them what Hayley had said? Both of them would hurt for him. Morgan would get angry and slightly offended that Hayley didn't trust them alone with Jack while Spencer would be hurt by the accusations. He didn't want to upset either one of them. Maybe he could word it carefully enough to avoid the anger and hurt. "I've been arguing with Hayley today. First was this morning, right before we got this case. Then, just moments before you came in, Spencer."

"Do you need to talk about the fight?" Morgan asked him.

Vehemently Aaron shook his head. "It's over something small and juvenile. I've said my piece and if she can't accept it, then the problem is hers. There's nothing I can do now." He realized it was true. There was nothing at all that he could do at the moment. Stressing over it wouldn't do him any good.

Spencer offered him a sweet smile. "Why don't I give you that backrub, then? If you'd still like, that is."

Looking first at one and then at the other, Aaron let go of his stress. Right at that moment there was really only one thing he wanted; one thing he knew would help him relax like nothing else. Here, with these two, he knew he was free to say it, free to feel it. There would be no judgment from them. He lowered the tough façade he wore around others and didn't try to hide the exhaustion in his eyes or behind his smile. "Actually, I'd rather just lie down for a while, if you two don't mind. I'm tense and tired and I've been wishing all day to just curl up with you two."

With the ease of time often spent together, the three prepared themselves for bed, working perfectly around each other. Soon they made their way toward the bed, each dressed down to only their boxers. It had taken the combined effort of Morgan and Aaron and quite a bit of time before they'd gotten Spencer to the point where he was comfortable sleeping in such little clothing. With the insecurities he held about his body, he'd slept before in boxers and a t-shirt, trying to hide his body behind the clothes. Now he was still shy on occasion, but he had become a little more comfortable in his skin.

Aaron pulled the covers back, making room for Spencer to climb in. The younger man moved directly to the center of the bed as he always did. While Aaron slid in on one side, Morgan slid in on the other. The two older men grabbed the blankets and pulled them up and over before Morgan reached over to turn off the lamp, leaving them mostly in the dark. The bathroom light was on and the door just barely cracked in concession to Spencer's fear of the dark.

Reaching forward, Aaron hooked his arm around Spencer's waist, pulling his back flush with Aaron's front, spooning into him. Spencer mimicked the same move with Morgan so that Spencer was held firmly between the two. Aaron's hand reached over Spencer, curling into Morgan's hip, allowing him to touch the both of them. He let out a soft little sigh. Yes, this was what he had needed. This was what he'd been craving all day long. The contact between the three of them that reassured him and strengthened him. Though none of them said a word, they all felt a little more at peace.


	4. Chapter 4

**This is reupdated because I had to fix an error. Sorry!**

**To those that don't want to read smut, go ahead and skip this chapter :P I don't even know if I did a good job with it or not, but this is a smutty, slutty little chapter that has no real point to the storyline except that the one I'm writing this for requested that I do this for her. She says it turned out great, but I don't know, as it's my first time writing a smut for three. :P Like I said, though, that's all this chapter really is. If you don't want to read it, you don't have to. The next chapter will be back on the story line and you won't miss anything in this one if you skip. To the rest that read it, please let me know what you honestly think. If It's crap, I'll delete it and just go on with the rest of the story. Thank you!**

* * *

The sound of a cell phone buzzing echoed through the hotel room. As usual, Aaron was the first one to wake to it, his hand automatically reaching over to the nightstand to grab the phone and shut off the alarm. When he rolled back over, his arm automatically going back over Spencer, he saw Morgan's slightly sleepy eyes looking at him. A smile rested on Morgan's lips. "Mornin'." He muttered quietly.

Aaron lifted just a little, stretching over Spencer to giving Morgan a gentle kiss. "Morning." He whispered back when they broke apart. He knew they should really get up, get started for the day, but he'd deliberately set his alarm an hour earlier than he should have, knowing how easy it was for them to get distracted with one another. How could he not get distracted by the sight that met him when he woke?

For just a moment he indulged himself by burying his nose against Spencer's hair. The young man was still asleep, lying on his stomach with his face turned toward Morgan, one arm over Morgan's waist, his legs tangled with Aaron's.

He gave another sigh as he ran his hand up and down Spencer's back. "Spencer, time to get up." He murmured against Spencer's hair. A smile curved his lips when Spencer arched into his hand almost like a cat. "Mm." Spencer mumbled quietly at them. His eyes never opened. Lifting his eyes, Aaron shared a grin with Morgan. Out of the three of them, the youngest was definitely the hardest to wake up.

Morgan leaned in, pressing his lips against Spencer's, one of their favorite ways to wake the boy. Aaron couldn't resist letting his hand slide further down Spencer's back, over his hip, sliding around and underneath Spencer's boxers to what he knew he would find. He shifted his head, moving his lips to the back of Spencer's neck and placing light little kisses just as his hand wrapped around his prize. He heard the soft moan Spencer gave, felt his hips twitch; saw the way he pressed into Morgan's kiss.

A dark hand crept over Spencer, bracing on his hip to move the boy onto his side before reaching up to thread in Aaron's hair, giving the light little tugs that Morgan knew Aaron loved. It had Aaron responding by turning his kisses into nips, making Spencer moan slightly. When Morgan and Spencer broke their kiss, Spencer tipped his head back toward Aaron, his eyes still closed and his hips pushing into Aaron's hand.

Aaron lifted up on one elbow so he could tip his head just right, stealing a kiss of his own. Taking advantage of their distraction, Morgan took hold of Spencer's boxers, sliding them off his hips and down, letting them drop at the end of the bed. He moved down, gently taking hold of Spencer's hips and rolling the younger man fully onto his back. That allowed Morgan the ability to climb down between his legs.

It was a sensory overload for Spencer. His brain was barely awake, but his body was awash in sensation. He couldn't get his breath enough to fully wake himself up and he didn't give a damn. Aaron's mouth was on his, that oh-so-talented tongue tracing into Spencer's mouth, while his hand was continuing its torturously slow movements. When something pressed against his entrance, Spencer could only let out a keening little moan that Aaron swallowed and push his hips down to beg shamelessly for more.

Dimly he heard something, a sound he knew he should recognize but couldn't quite place. All he knew was that Aaron's mouth was suddenly gone, making him want to whimper. But the hand around his morning erection stayed teasingly in place, as did the finger that was slowly sliding further and further in. Spencer bit his lip, rolling his hips in an effort to get more.

He heard Aaron suddenly, using a voice that definitely wasn't his bedroom voice. "Hotchner."

One finger turned into two and Spencer bit his lip harder, trying not to make noise. His brain was awake enough to realize that Aaron was on the phone. But when those fingers started to move, it was almost a losing battle to keep quiet. He felt Aaron's hand let go of his cock to rise up and slap over his mouth just in time to cover the moan that slipped out. It was a good thing he left it there, too, because Morgan's fingers weren't stopping their movements and Spencer let out a moan that would have echoed around the room when Morgan's tongue traced up the vein on the underside of his erection, making his hips jump and the need in his stomach coil tighter.

"How is she?" Aaron asked seriously. His eyes were traveling over his two lovers, growing more and more turned on as he watched Morgan prepare their youngest at the same time as driving him crazy. Unconsciously Aaron shifted to try and ease the ache between his own legs. He listened to Dave's voice in his ear, working hard to pay attention to what he was saying. He almost lost it, though, when long fingers snaked inside his shorts to take firm hold of him. He looked down and saw Spencer watching him; felt the smile underneath his hand, which was still keeping the moans quiet.

Aaron tried to keep his voice as serious and calm as normal. "If she's ready earlier, give me a call. Otherwise, text everyone and let them know to be at the station in one hour. Thanks, Dave." He'd barely closed his phone before he tossed it from the bed. His hand moved, but he replaced it quickly with his mouth, a much more enjoyable way of silencing the kid. Although he much preferred to hear those little sounds.

He felt Spencer move his hand to tug lightly at his shorts and understood the message. He slid them off, kicking them down to the floor. Before he could lie back beside him, Spencer was curling a hand over his hip, pulling him upwards. Aaron broke the kiss to look down into Spencer's face. His cheeks were flushed, his lips swollen from sleep and kissing, his eyes heavy with lust. Groaning, Aaron let Spencer guide him upwards.

Spencer took one of Aaron's legs, nudging it up and over his shoulder, leaving Aaron straddling his neck, which put what he was looking for within easy reach. Licking his lips, Spencer leaned in; his hands settled on Aaron's hips as he sucked just the tip of his lover's cock into his mouth. Aaron grabbed the headboard to brace himself as he tried to hold in his moan.

The sight of them was almost too much for Morgan. He'd moved from two fingers to three, scissoring them to try and make sure Spencer was as ready as possible. But now he couldn't wait any more. He let the boy drop from his mouth and pulled his fingers out, sliding his hands to Spencer's thighs and pressing them further apart. Reaching for the lube he'd grabbed earlier to help him prepare Spencer, he rubbed some over his own aching cock, moaning softly at the feel.

Spencer couldn't contain his moan when he felt Morgan at his entrance, slowly pushing in, teasing him. There was a slight burn, but the pleasure overrode it. He moaned again, sending vibrations down Aaron's member, making the older man shudder against him. Feeling that shudder had Spencer redoubling his efforts, taking as much as he could deep into his throat. His whole body was trembling from being so _full_. He gripped tighter to Aaron's hips, loving every sound the older man made, making sounds of his own as Morgan settled fully inside him.

With ease born of practice, the three set their pace. They had to work to control the sounds they made, knowing there was a chance someone could come by and hear them. But that chance of being caught seemed to only heighten the pleasure for them. It wasn't long before Aaron was moving his hips, thrusting into Spencer's mouth, having to bite his lip to hold in his own moan as the boy lightened his grip on Aaron's hips and literally let the man fuck his mouth. Morgan's thrusts grew more erratic, his own finish coming closer and closer.

It was Spencer who came first. He was so close, teetering right on the edge, but he was thrust over it when Morgan's hand wrapped around him, giving a few firm tugs. That was it for him. He moaned, low and deep, fighting to keep himself from screaming as his body bowed and his legs clamped around Morgan's hips. The vibrations from his moan sent Aaron spiraling as well. He thrust deep into Spencer's mouth, emptying himself with a groan. His body bucked and quivered, riding out his orgasm, shuddering as Spencer sucked every last drop from him. When there was nothing left, he slipped from Spencer's mouth, moving his leg so he could drop down beside him.

Spencer arched his hips a little, still panting from his release, but he deliberately tightened his muscles around Morgan, trying to bring him to his end as well. Aaron rose up, capturing Morgan's lips in a hard, heated kiss. When Morgan snapped his hips forward, Aaron swallowed down the shout he gave, kissing him as he emptied himself deep inside of Spencer.

The three men collapsed on the bed, their bodies twined together, panting with the force of their lovemaking. For a few long minutes, none of them could move. Aaron finally shifted, drawing himself out from underneath Morgan, who was lying half on him. "Mm. Much as I want to stay here, we've got to get to work. We're meeting the others down at the station in…" he looked over to check the clock. "Forty minutes. And I definitely need a shower first."

As he crawled past them, Morgan snaked a hand out to smack his ass, chuckling when Aaron sent him a mock glare. Once Aaron was clear of the bed, Morgan sat up, wiping a hand over his face. He had that relaxed look that came after really good sex. "Want some company in there?" he asked teasingly.

Pausing at the door, Aaron raised an eyebrow but he couldn't resist chuckling. "I'd never get out of here in time." He admitted. His eyes were devilish. "Plus, you get the job of waking up Spencer." With that comment, he laughed and ducked into the bathroom, shutting the door.

Morgan groaned and looked back down at the bed, finding just what he knew he would. Sprawled out against the pillow, his own juices still on his stomach, Spencer was sound asleep. Despite himself, Morgan couldn't stop from laughing. _Some things never change_ he thought to himself. No matter how many times they were together, it never failed to amuse him or Aaron to watch Spencer after sex. The kid gave his absolute all to it, so much so that when they were done, he usually drifted off to sleep within minutes.

Leaning down, he kissed Spencer's soft lips, almost moaning as he tasted Aaron there. God, that was one hell of an erotic kiss. The combined flavor of the two was almost enough to get Morgan started for round two. But he knew he didn't have time. "Spencer, baby, wake up time. Can't sleep now, baby boy. We've got to go to work."

"Mmph." Spencer mumbled. He rolled away from Morgan, burying his face down into the pillow. Laughing, Morgan looked down and couldn't resist smacking his hand down onto Spencer's exposed ass, enjoying the way the young man squirmed from it. Then he let his hand slide over where he'd just smacked, caressing the skin there. "Wakey wakey, sunshine. Time to be Dr. Reid."

"Don't wanna."

That only made Morgan laugh again. "Too bad. Up and at 'em, Dr. Reid, before I dump your deliciously naked self onto the floor."

Spencer shifted his head, one eye peeking up at Morgan. It was obvious he was debating if Morgan would do what he said. When Morgan just grinned at him, Spencer sighed and started to push himself up. "Jerk." He muttered with a yawn.

Unable to resist, Morgan stole one more kiss, loving the way Spencer instantly returned the gesture. When he pulled back, he stroked a hand down Spencer's cheek. "You love me anyways, baby boy." He murmured.

"We all have our faults." Spencer quipped. He was smirking as he rose from the bed and stretched. Looking down at his body, he sighed. Then he turned to head to the bathroom. Grinning, Morgan stood up as well. "Aaron's in there, baby." He warned him. Spencer just shot him a look as he asked "So?" Then he was opening the door and stepping in. Just before he would have been out of sight, he gave Morgan another look, this one unmistakable. "You coming or what?"

With a mile wide grin, Morgan set off to join his two lovers. _Hell of a good way to start the day_ he thought to himself.


	5. Chapter 5

**So you know what I did? Well, those who read the last chapter would have seen that I put JJ's name in there. I can't believe I made a mistake like that! Holy cow. JJ is not in this story. So for those who read 4, please forgive me for that mistake. I went and fixed it, which is probably why you saw a double update. But now I feel like a nerd. Anyways, JJ is not in this story people and I am SO sorry for that mistake. I'm not used to writing Seaver in a story, lol, so I slipped into writing it when JJ was around. Gotta fix that in my head. Anyways, hope everyone's cool with this. **

**I know cases aren't the best for me; I'm not good at writing them, I think. I hope it comes out ok and I really hope you guys are still enjoying reading this. Like I said before, updates are few and far between, but I will keep writing. Just not sure where this story is going lol! And Undercover is taking up a lot of my time right now. :) Anyways! Read on! – oh, and review too. Please? Pwease? Thank you!**

* * *

To keep things looking normal, Aaron left first, letting the two know the hallway was clear so they could head to their rooms. While they went and changed, Aaron took off for the station. Morgan and Spencer both had a text from Dave to meet up and drive down to the station. They took a quick minute to change and then everyone was piling into their cars.

When they arrived at the station, they saw someone had a tray set up on the conference room table with breakfast items.

"Morning, everyone." Aaron greeted as his team came in. He was over by their map, looking over some of the information as he tried to figure out what they needed to do. The police Chief was there, setting out a pot of coffee on the tray. He looked at the other agents and gave them a tired smile. "Have a seat while I catch you up." He told them all. "There was another attack last night. This time, though, the dirt bag left a witness."

"What?" Ashley looked up in surprise from the seat she'd taken. "Shouldn't we be interviewing the witness, then?"

Chief Summers poured himself a cup of coffee while shaking his head. "Not right at the moment. She was brought in last night screaming to high heaven about her friend being abducted, but she suffered from a head trauma." He grabbed a file off the table and looked at the paper inside. "Says she has a grade III concussion and suffered something called an intracranial hemorrhage, whatever that is."

Almost instantly all eyes turned toward Spencer, most of the team smothering grins while Dave put his shaking head in his hand. Spencer, on the other hand, had perked up slightly at the Chief's words, lifting his head up and setting his cup down. "An intracranial hemorrhage is a hemorrhage, or bleeding, within the skull. It is actually a serious medical emergency because the buildup of blood within the skull can lead to escalations in intracranial pressure, which in turn can crush delicate brain tissue or limit its blood supply. Severe escalations in intracranial pressure can cause potentially deadly brain herniation in which parts of the brain are squeezed past structures in the skull."

The look Chief Summers wore was almost priceless. His mouth was hanging open slightly and his cup was held, forgotten, halfway to his mouth. He couldn't believe the ease with which the kid had rattled all of that off. Then he remembered that they'd introduced him as 'Dr. Reid' yesterday. "Are you really a doctor? You're, well, you're awfully young to have gone through medical school."

"He's not that kind of doctor." Emily supplied when she saw Spencer's blush.

"Not that kind of doctor? What kind are you, then?"

Flustered, Spencer looked down at his coffee cup. "I have three doctorates, actually. Mathematics, Chemistry and Engineering as well as B.A's in Psychology and Sociology and I should have a B.A. in Philosophy within the month. I've also been looking into getting a new Ph.D. in…" He cut off abruptly when Morgan touched his arm and shook his head. His blush came back hotter than ever. "Sorry." He mumbled before looking back down at his cup.

"That's all right, pretty boy." Morgan reached out and ruffled his hair, laughing when the kid scowled. He switched them back to the topic at hand. "Now, with the damage she has, how soon should it be before we can talk to her?"

Spencer stirred his coffee while he got one of the expressions that told them he was thinking. "I don't know the guidelines for grading concussions in this state, so some factors may be different. But concussions can vary greatly in symptoms and healing time."

He sat back in his chair, getting a little more comfortable. After a quick sip from his coffee, he spoke again. "Cognitive symptoms include, but aren't limited to, confusion, disorientation, and difficulty focusing attention. Post-traumatic amnesia, in which the person can't remember events leading up to the injury or after it, or both, is extremely common of a concussion. Confusion, another concussion mark, may be present immediately or may develop over several minutes. Depending on how concussed she is, she may be slow to respond to questions or directions, have a vacant stare, or she might slur her speech. Affective results of concussion include crankiness, loss of interest in favorite activities or items, tearfulness and displays of emotion that are inappropriate to the situation." He shrugged his shoulders. "How severe those are, I can't predict. To judge how soon to talk to her, though, I would need to know what type of hemorrhage she had. Was it a subarachnoid hemorrhage? A subdural or epidural hematoma? Or was it an extra-axial or intra-axial hemorrhage?"

The chief seemed incapable of answering his question. He had that look on his face that the others had seen, and worn, that clearly said he'd been lost and confused by Spencer's ramble.

Aaron smothered his grin, moving over and picking up the file that contained the woman's medical records. Reaching out to the table, Aaron dialed Garcia, letting the ringing echo in the room. A moment later they all heard "It's about time someone called me! I was starting to feel very, very neglected here. You can't neglect me!"

"Garcia, I need you to look up some records for me." Aaron said without even commenting on the way she answered the phone. The two seemed to have a mutual understanding about their interactions with one another. Rarely did Aaron bother to correct her for what she said unless it was in front of someone important and she refrained from using any of her cutesy names on him. "I need the medical information for a Priscilla Eller at Sacred Heart. Also, I need anything else you can gather on her."

"Sure thing, boss man. Ok, let's see. Medical records show, oh, poor girl. Says she has a grade III concussion as well as an intracranial hemorrhage. Something's next to that saying, um…subdural hematoma. They've got her scheduled for some procedure. Let me take a look at this…"

The room filled with the sound of clacking keys. Everyone waited, munching on their breakfasts and drinking their coffee, until Garcia spoke again.

"Ok, got it. They're preparing to do something called a lumbar puncture and then something with a catheter."

Spencer nodded, understanding what she was saying. "A subdural is when blood gathers within the outermost meningeal layer, between the dura mater and the arachnoid mater brain. Usually resulting from tears in bridging veins which cross the subdural space, subdural hemorrhages may cause an increase in intracranial pressure which can cause compression of and damage to delicate brain tissue." He looked around the room. "Doing a LP means that she's suffering from ICP. Intracranial pressure. The lumbar puncture is the first step in symptom control by drainage of cerebrospinal fluid. We won't be able to talk to her for hours yet until they get this under control, Hotch. And that's if she even makes it out of this ok and without any brain damage."

Aaron nodded at him. "Reid, I want you to go over to the hospital and keep your eye out there. You're the one with the most understanding of when would be the best time to speak to her and what to expect." Aaron told him. "On the chance she wakes up, I want someone there to talk to her. I also want to make sure that our Unsub doesn't realize he left behind a witness and try to come silence her before she gets the chance to talk to her." There was a quick flash in his eyes that his two lovers took to be apologetic. "Take Seaver with you." It would be good experience for her and it would keep her away from potentially heavier stuff. "Morgan, Prentiss, I want you two to head to the bar, see if you can find out anything from them. Garcia, I want you to access their cameras if they have anything and see what you can find for me."

"On it, Sir! I'll have Priscilla's information sent to your tablets in no time. Seaver, I hope you have yours, cause Reid doesn't have one and he'll need the information. Keep the love flowing, my beauties!" With that, she was gone.

Spencer shook his head and stood up. He gestured to Seaver to follow him, snagging one of the sets of keys from Dave, who only grinned at him. "Come on, let's get over there." Spencer told her kindly. As uncomfortable as she made him, he couldn't bring himself to be rude to her. They were part of the same team; they had to work together. Still, he shared a soft look with each lover when no one else was looking, seeing the apology in Aaron's eyes and the understanding in Morgan's. Both of them knew how uncomfortable she made Spencer feel.

She said nothing to him on the way out of the station or even in the car. It was only as they pulled into the hospital that she decided to speak. "If this woman isn't going to be awake for a while, why are we supposed to be here again?"

Furrowing his brows, Spencer parked the car. Hadn't she listened to the explanation at the station? He turned the car off and pocketed the keys. "We need to be here when she wakes up so we don't miss any opportunity to talk to her. What she has to say could be extremely important if she did happen to see his face or knows who he is. Plus, there is the chance that the Unsub could come after her and try to eliminate the threat she poses to him. It wouldn't be uncommon."

"It just seems like a waste of our time. They could have sent one of the locals to guard her room and let us know when she's alert." Ashley pointed out with a grumble. She moved to walk beside Spencer as they made their way into the hospital. "You do realize they're most likely putting us here because we're the two useless ones in the field?"

Spencer stopped, looking over at her with surprise. "Excuse me?"

"Oh, come on Reid." Ashley lifted an eyebrow when she turned to look at him. "I'm the new girl no one quite trusts yet and you're the brains of the group. When it comes to the field, you lack the typical skills and I lack the experience. Hence why we're stuck here." She gave him a funny look and shook her head. "You may be a genius, but sometimes you miss some of the most obvious things." That said, she moved toward the desk.

Her words bounced around in Spencer's head as he followed her. When they reached the desk, Spencer stepped up and took charge, finding out where Priscilla's room was and getting an update on her condition. They were directed where they could wait and told that, at the first available moment the doctor would be out to speak with them, but most likely it could take up to an hour. Spencer assured her they'd wait.

It was when he and Ashley were seated in the chairs in the waiting room that he really got a chance to think on her words. For the next half hour, it was all he could think of. Was that how the team saw him? Did they really send him places like this because they didn't trust his skills out on the field? Just thinking that hurt a little. Suddenly he couldn't just sit there. He looked over to Ashley as he rose to his feet. "I'm going to go find some coffee. Would you like some?"

"No, thanks. Aren't we supposed to stay here?"

Spencer held up his cell phone. "Anyone comes to talk to us, call me. The cafeteria is just a few halls down. I'll be back in an instant if I'm needed." He said nothing more as he took off down the hall. The last thing he needed was to hear any more of her comments. Did she realize how much what she'd said had cut to the quick?

He was halfway to the cafeteria, still stewing over what she'd said, when he realized what he needed to do. Something that would make him feel better. He wanted to talk to one of his lovers. Preferably both, but he'd settle for one. But, which one? Morgan and Emily were supposed to be out at the bar and Aaron had still been at the station when Spencer had left. Which one would be able to be more private?

The decision was stolen from him when his phone rang. Looking down, he laughed out loud at seeing what the caller ID said. He flipped open the phone and put it to his ear, smiling as he walked into the cafeteria. "Do you know how low the odds are that you just happened to call while I was thinking of calling?"

"We're just that good, pretty boy." Morgan said with a laugh.

Spencer took his place in line, waiting for the few people in front of him to place their orders. "Did you and Emily find anything out?"

"Not a damn thing. Hopefully Garcia has better luck with the camera footage. How's our witness doing?"

Another person placed their order and stepped away. Spencer took the single step forward. "Not awake yet. She was stable when we checked in, though. There's a high likelihood that it'll be a while before she wakes up."

Morgan made a small sound of agreement. "And how's Seaver doing? She driving you crazy yet?"

His question brought Spencer's mind back to her earlier words. The good mood he'd felt when Morgan called suddenly seemed to dissipate a little bit. "She's fine. Bored, but fine." He tried to keep his inner turmoil from bleeding over into his words. Apparently he failed because he heard Morgan moving in the background and then he spoke, sounding more serious than before "Pretty boy? What's wrong?"

"I'm fine, Morgan. Really.

That was his standard line and only served to make Morgan even more worried. "Ok, now I know something's up. What did she do, Spencer? Did she say something to you?"

The person in front of him moved, bringing Spencer to the front of the line and saving him from answering for a moment. He placed his order for coffee and gratefully took the cup from her once he paid. After he got it, he moved to the other side of the room, taking a seat at a table there. Morgan wasn't going to just let him get off the phone and this wasn't a conversation he needed to have around Ashley. Not that he was going to tell Morgan anything. If it was true, if what Ashley had said really was true, Spencer didn't think he could handle hearing it from his lover. Either one of them.

He settled into his chair and took the first drink of his coffee, sighing slightly. "Much better." He commented happily. "I actually feel more awake. That one cup earlier just wasn't doing it."

"You're evading. Talk to me, baby boy. What did she do to you?"

"I told you, Derek. I'm fine. We really haven't talked that much." It was the truth. "I'll be ok."

A beeping sound in his ear cut him off. He checked the screen before quickly pulling the phone back. "I gotta go, Derek. She's beeping in and I told her to call me when the doctor came out or something happened."

"Ok. But we're talking later. Love you, baby boy."

"Love you too, Derek." Hearing those words and saying them always made his heart lift. He wiped his smile away as he clicked over to his other call and set off down the hall. "I'm on my way, Seaver." He said as way of an answer. "Is everything ok?"

"Doctor is here." She said simply before hanging up.

Pushing down his other emotions, Spencer headed to the waiting room to do his job. He had no idea that, as he made his way to speak with the doctor, Morgan was on his cell texting Aaron, giving him a heads up that something had happened between Spencer and Ashley that had Spencer upset. Aaron sent him a text back saying they would take care of it the first chance they got and to keep an eye on him if possible.

While that text conversation was going, Spencer was standing beside Ashley as the doctor looked from one to the other. Even before the man spoke, Spencer knew what was coming. He knew the look in the doctor's eyes. "I'm sorry, Agents. The ICP was too much, too fast. We couldn't relieve the pressure. There was, well, there was just too much damage to the brain. To be honest, I'm surprised she made it as long as she did."

"Thank you, doctor." Spencer said somberly. "I appreciate you letting us know. Is there any way I can have a copy of her records to take back to the station with me?"

The doctor nodded. "Of course." He led them over to the nurses' desk, requesting a copy of the medical file to be made. Once it was done, he handed it to Spencer, who thanked him again for his time. Then the two agents headed back toward their car.

Ashley made a sour face as she climbed into the car. "Well, one useless job down. Wonder what they'll find for us next?" She said sarcastically. Spencer bit his lip and said nothing as he turned the car on and started to head back to the station.


	6. Chapter 6

Halfway back to the station, Spencer's phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket and held it out to Ashley. When she didn't take it from him, he spared a glance at her, noting the confusion on her face. He had to resist rolling his eyes as he pulled the car to the side of the road. Then he flipped the phone open, hitting the speaker phone button. "You're on speaker." He said by way of answer. It saved him from potentially having to explain some kind of comment from someone.

"Reid, I need you two to meet us over at 719 Willington Street." Aaron's voice rang in the car. "Apparently a neighbor went to check on the person living in this house and found the house empty, but a whole pile of bloody clothes in the laundry room. Crime scene techs are already over there. Looks like a good possibility this could be our Unsub's house. One of the pieces of clothing belongs to victim number five. There're journals though, Reid. We need you to help look at them."

This time Spencer didn't give Ashley much of a choice. He thrust the phone at her, almost dropping it in her lap as he pulled back out onto the road. "I'm about ten minutes away, Hotch. Everyone else already over there?"

"Dave and I got here right after the CSU and Morgan and Prentiss should be here any minute. The house has already been secured. No one's here. So far, it doesn't look like he held any of the victims here."

Spencer took his necessary exit while Ashley spoke into the phone she was now holding. "We profiled he'd have a secondary location where he took them."

"She's right." Spencer added in. "His home would be personal to him. Private. The seduction he plans with these women will be in a controlled environment. None would make it home with him unless they managed to make it through the night. So far, he hasn't found one yet." Pausing, he sighed. "Priscilla didn't make it, Sir. She passed not too long ago."

"We knew it was a possibility." Aaron said. His end of the line was quiet for a second. "We'll be upstairs checking the master room."

"We'll find you when we arrive, Sir." Ashley told him before the call was ended. The two agents didn't speak to each other the rest of the way there. When they arrived, Spencer quietly took his phone from her, putting it in his pocket with the keys while climbing out of the car. He showed his badge to get past the officers that stood at the door.

When he reached to grab a pair of gloves from the box at the door, Ashley reached around him and stole the last pair from the box he'd been just about to reach into. The last pair of the only kind of gloves he ever wore. The gloves that Aaron made sure were there for him. Feeling slightly ridiculous, Spencer looked at her, debating between embarrassment and discomfort. The discomfort he knew would come far outweighed being embarrassed. "Hey, Ashley?"

The use of her first name had her turning to look at him with surprise. Nervous and uncomfortable, Spencer chewed on the inside of his cheek. "See, uh, you just kind of reached around me there. Those are, well, those are the gloves set out for me."

One of her eyebrows went up. "Gloves are gloves, doctor." She told him simply. "And these ones fit me a little more snugly." He opened his mouth to say something to her but she was already off, moving up the staircase where Morgan and Emily's voices were echoing down.

Pushing down his irritation, he grabbed a pair of the latex gloves and put them on, grumbling to himself the entire time. He wasn't allergic to latex, so it wasn't technically like he had any good reason to not use them. But with his skin as sensitive to materials as it was, wearing latex often bothered him to no end. The sensation of it against his skin was not pleasant. The longer he had it on, the more it would bother him, eventually distracting him so badly that he wouldn't be able to think until he took them off.

Right at the moment he didn't let himself dwell on that. Instead, he headed up the stairs, trying to force himself to ignore the feel of the white latex on his skin. It didn't take him long to find where his team was at. Everyone was in the master bedroom, sifting through the closets and putting objects into a pile on the bed. There were things in bags that Spencer could see looked to be souvenirs of the women. One was a bow that he recognized from the picture of the first girl. Another was a headband—that went to victim six. An opal ring—victim two. "You found his souvenirs." He commented when he came in.

Multiple sets of eyes turned toward him. "We weren't sure yet." Dave said. "But it's a pretty safe assumption at the moment."

"They are." Spencer said in a confident voice. His hands fidgeted in front of him, the latex making it feel like sandpaper was rubbing over his skin. His eyes, though, had moved over to the pile of journals on the bed that Aaron had mentioned on the phone. He gravitated toward those, speaking absently. "The headband was what victim six was wearing when she was abducted. Victim two was wearing the opal ring; it was a gift that was passed down through the women in her family dating back to her great-great-great grandmother. She never took it off."

He picked up the first notebook, skimming the first page instantly. A sick feeling rolled around in his stomach. These were definitely journals. The first page in this one was dated a year ago. Around him the others talked about what they were or weren't finding, but he paid them no attention. Let them profile the room. The peek he'd seen in these journals told him where his talent would best be used. _Just like Ashley said; they need you for your brain, not your not-so-stellar field skills._

Spencer gathered the journals and moved to the side of the room where a chair sat by a window. There he sat, taking a moment to organize the journals he had. Once they were in order, the first one starting almost two and a half years ago, he set himself to the task of reading them.

He was most of the way through the first one when he felt someone bend down beside him. "Take the gloves off, Reid. You're twitching pretty badly." Aaron murmured to him. Then he was gone again. Spencer didn't even look up from reading to take off first one glove and then the next, letting out a little sigh without realizing it. He stuffed them into his pocket and then he was back to his reading, the relief almost instantaneous.

Morgan watched him out of the corner of his eye for a few minutes. Dave and Aaron had left the room already, so it was just the four younger agents left in there. They'd got most of what they could out of this room. Morgan wanted to head down the hallway a little and take a look at the office that was over there. He'd call Garcia and get to check the creep's computer.

A thought occurred to Morgan, making him realize he could kill two birds with one stone. "Hey, Prentiss." He nudged his partner to get her attention. "You think you got the rest of the room and Reid?"

"Yeah, we're good, Morgan." She answered instantly.

He smiled at her. "Good, thanks." Turning, he looked over to where Ashley was. "Seaver, come with me. We're going to check out the office." Without waiting to see if she'd follow, he set off down the hall and to where the office was. No one was in there at the moment. Morgan moved straight to the desk, taking a seat in the chair behind it and opening the laptop up. "If we're lucky, this might tell us where he's run to or where his secondary location is." He explained to Ashley.

She perched on the end of the desk, a friendly smile on her face. While he waited for the computer to load, he looked up at his newest coworker and tried to figure out how to ask what he wanted without letting on too much to her. "You and Reid didn't seem too pleased when you came in." Morgan fished lightly. He made it sound like the pair of them instead of commenting on how Ashley had looked irritated and Spencer had looked unhappy.

"He was less annoyed than I was." Admitting that, Ashley gave Morgan a sheepish look. "I guess he's more used to it than I am. Not that I mean to sound ungrateful to you guys or anything like that." She rushed to say.

Morgan sat back in the chair to give her a curious look. "More used to what? What had the two of you annoyed?"

The woman looked around before looking back to him. Now that she was sure the coast was clear, she said "Well, it's like I was telling him at the hospital. It just felt like Hotch was putting us on the babysitting job because we're the most useless two in the field. Him with his lack of skills and me with my lack of experience."

Shock widened Morgan's eyes. "You said that to him?" he asked with disbelief. All signs of trying to be subtle or friendly were gone. If that was the type of conversation she'd had with Spencer, it was no wonder the kid had sounded upset on the phone and looked unhappy now!

Ashley registered his shocked tone, furrowing her eyebrows as she tried to obviously figure out what she had said wrong. "Well, yeah." She finally answered. "We all know our roles on the team. I'm new, so mines still being figured out. His is brains. I was just kind of sympathizing with him, you know?"

"By insulting him? I'd let Reid have my back any day on the field, Seaver. He may look small or fumbling sometimes, but he's a damn good agent. He also outranks you. I don't ever want to hear you even insinuating that he can't do his job. Not to his face and not to anyone else. Are we clear on that?"

Her mouth was hanging open for a moment. Shutting it, she gave a jerky nod. Morgan just glared. "Good. Now go work downstairs with Hotch and Rossi." The last thing he wanted was to be looking at her. It took everything he had not to continue to yell at her. How dare she say something like that to Spencer? She had no idea what she was talking about with him!

To keep himself calm enough to do his job, Morgan pulled out his phone and dialed Garcia while he watched Ashley huff her way out of the office.

"Why Morgan, I was just thinking of you." She purred in his ear in greeting. A semblance of a smile curved Morgan's lips. "Hey, baby girl. I've got this guy's laptop open in front of me. I was hoping you could work your magic and tell us what's in it."

"Easy peasy my stud." After a moment of setting up the link between the two, Garcia spoke again. "While I dig here, why don't you tell me what's got you so glum?"

He didn't even bother trying to figure out how she knew. She could always tell when something bothered him. "Just irritated with someone right now. Nothing for you to worry your pretty little head over." The last thing he wanted to do was tell her. Garcia was worse than most when it came to being protective of Spencer, her little 'doctor hunk' as she called him sometimes.

"Derek Morgan, flattery will get you nowhere at the moment. I know you too well. Now, tell me what's up before I go crazy."

"The last thing we'd want is for you to go crazier." He teased. Shifting his chair, he sifted through the desk drawers. "I told you, I'm fine. Just irritated with someone. I'll fix it."

"What did she do?"

Morgan raised an eyebrow, even though she couldn't see him. "She?"

"Yes, she. I'm not stupid, Derek. What did Seaver do?"

"And what makes you say it's her?" He asked.

Laughter came over the line, warm and clear. "Honey, if it was Em, you'd have had it out with her or you'd be stewing silently. If it was Rossi or Hotch, you'd be more vocal about it, not shy about talking. If it was Reid, you two would have either fixed it or you'd be more upset. Process of elimination, my love. Only Seaver's left."

"You've been spending way too much time around profilers, mama."

Again, laughter. "Of course. Just like I can see you're evading the subject. Well, you know where to find me when you're ready to talk, Derek. I won't press it. And there's nothing on your man's laptop. It's squeaky clean."

Sighing, Morgan pushed back from the desk and rose to his feet. "Thanks. Hopefully Reid finds something in the journals. Talk to you later, baby girl." As soon as he hung up the phone, Morgan moved out of sight of the door and started to text.

* * *

Downstairs in the living room, Aaron and Dave were trying to figure out where this man might go to hide. "He owns no other property." Dave pointed out. They'd already had Garcia check the owner of the house, a Curtis Bell, and see if he owned any other property. She was working up a full background on him to give to them when they arrived at the station. "Where would he feel safe using as his secondary location? It has to be somewhere isolated."

Aaron nodded his agreement. "Somewhere he feels is charming, though. This is a seduction for him. He's setting the scene, not intending on killing them there. This is more about romance at first for him than it is murder."

Footsteps warned them of someone coming only moments before Ashley walked in. Everything about her was showing her annoyance and discomfort as well as how hard she was trying to contain it all. "Agent Morgan told me to come downstairs and work with you two. He thought you might need my assistance." She told them.

The two senior profilers shared a brief look, each one catching the subtle message in this. Something had happened upstairs. Ashley wasn't happy and Morgan had sent her down here to work with the senior agents, not something he would typically do. "We're getting ready to head back to the station. It doesn't look like there's anything more we can do here for now." Aaron finally said.

Dave pushed away from the wall that he was at. "We'll gather the others, let them know, and meet you at the car in a minute."

Nodding, Aaron made his way outside, stopping to let the detective there know that he and his team were heading to the station. Nothing more could be done, really, until they put together their profile and a little more understanding of the man they were up against here. Only when they learned about him would they be able to guess where he was taking the women and, hopefully, where he was currently hiding. They needed things to tie him to the crimes—something more than just suspicion.

He sat down in the driver's seat of one of the SUV's to wait for Dave, intending to take a few minutes to try and profile a little and plan their next move. His thoughts were interrupted when his cell phone vibrated in his pocket, letting him know he had a message coming in. A small smile lifted his lips when he saw Morgan's name on the screen. Opening it, he scrolled over the words, worrying and chuckling at the same time at what Morgan sent him.

**Morgan: I hope ur happy. I held my temper n everything**

**Hotchner: Seaver didn't look happy. What happened?**

While he waited for Morgan's response, he lifted his eyes to the house, watching for the others. When his phone buzzed once more he looked back down.

**Morgan: She apprntly told Reid hes useless on the field. That hes just the brains here.**

Shocked, Aaron stared at the message, reading it over as if it would change it around. She'd told Spencer _what_? Automatically he sent back his reply.

**Hotchner: R u kidding me?**

**Morgan: Nope. N I bet she said more 2 him than what she told me.**

**Hotchner: Shit. No wonder he looked so out of it**

**Morgan: I kno. Might have 2 keep them apart 4 2day. Maybe pair her w/ EP?**

If it had been under different circumstances, Aaron never would have let someone tell him who to pair his agents with. But this was important and it involved Morgan just as much as it involved him. They were both looking out for the same person with this.

**Hotchner: That works. I'll have Dave talk 2 Seaver. 2nite we'll talk 2 Reid and square this away.**

**Morgan: I'll try 2 talk 2 him on the way 2 the station. Wish u could ride w/ us. Ur looking pretty damn good 2day ;)**

**Hotchner: I wish I could 2. Ur both looking good. I had 2 leave w/ Dave earlier so I wouldn't b distracted by the 2 of u :D**

Just then the front door to the house opened and the team spilled out. Aaron watched them as Dave, Emily and Seaver made their way to his SUV while Morgan and Spencer took off for the other, with Spencer carrying an open journal and Morgan holding a whole stack of them. After putting the stack in the backseat, Aaron saw Morgan take his phone out, apparently reading the last text Aaron had sent. He watched, perfectly able to see Morgan's face, enjoying the sharp grin that suddenly spread there. Eyes lifted for a moment, meeting his across the distance, and Aaron swore he felt the heat of it shoot straight down his spine.

He cleared his throat and adjusted while the others climbed in, talking around him. Aaron let them talk. Once they were buckled, he pulled out and headed down the road, trying to not only concentrate on his driving, but also concentrate on calming down a certain part of his body. Damn Morgan for having that instant effect on him.


	7. Chapter 7

**For some reason this chapter didn't want to write, which is why it has ended up so short and took me so long to put up. Sorry! But I'm halfway done with the next and it's better than this one so far, at least I hope lol. So the next chap should be up by the end of the week. Hope you at least enjoy this filler chap a little :P**

* * *

They had barely been out on the road, only a block away from the house they'd just left, when Morgan decided it was time to start the conversation. He didn't bother trying to talk to Spencer right away, or to ask him to put the journal down. Instead, he just grabbed it out of the young man's hands, tossing it into the backseat. The "Hey!" of protest that Spencer gave rolled right off Morgan's shoulders.

Focusing on the road, Morgan only let himself sneak a quick glance at Spencer's face. "Rarely do we get alone time on a case, Spencer. I'm not wasting the little time we've got here with you reading a journal."

The younger man sighed, but he didn't protest anymore. He simply readjusted in his seat, turning his body just a little so that he was facing more toward Morgan. "Sorry. I just, I get caught up like that when I work. But I don't need to tell you that. You already know…"

Morgan moved a hand off the wheel and reached over, setting it down on Spencer's leg, cutting him off before the ramble could really kick in. If he hadn't known that Spencer was upset about something before, he would have after that. It wasn't the younger man's typical ramble; that was the kind that came from nerves.

When Spencer was quiet and Morgan was sure he had the younger man's attention, he spoke. "Tell me what you're thinking, Spencer. Please." His words were said softly, with a gentle touch reserved for those he loved.

For a long moment he thought Spencer would either ignore him or brush him off. That was a typical way for the young genius to deal with things he didn't want to talk about. Aaron and Morgan had been working hard at trying to get Spencer to open up and it seemed to slowly be working, but there were still too many times that Spencer shut down on him. Now was one of those times. "I'm fine, Derek. It's just been a long morning so far."

"Bull." His hand on the wheel tightened for a minute. He took a deep breath to calm down and level out his tone; it wasn't Spencer that he was upset with. "You've been upset since you and Seaver went to the hospital this morning. Why don't you tell me what she said to upset you so much, Spencer."

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Spencer sigh softly before shrugging. "Nothing I haven't heard plenty of times before."

Morgan didn't stop to think before he jerked the car over to the shoulder of the road. Once the car was in park, he spun to look at his young lover, the anger he'd held back before now coursing through him. Had he really heard him right? "What did you just say?" he demanded angrily. He couldn't believe he'd heard him right. Was he saying that other people had told him he was useless on the team? Morgan swore he'd find whoever had the balls to say that to Spencer and knock them flat on their ass. No one spoke to him that way! No one!

Immediately Spencer was reaching over, taking Morgan's hands in his. Those big hazel eyes went wide with worry and his tone was gentle, soothing. "Derek, Derek, breathe. Please, Derek, just calm down a little. Calm, please."

"You tell me what the hell these people are saying to you and who's saying it, Spencer." Morgan's voice had become even harder. He was having a difficult time controlling his fury at the moment.

Spencer's eyes were drawn to something outside the car for a minute. Quickly he let go of Morgan's hands, shifting his body in his seat as his cheeks heated. One of his hands came up to cover his face. Turning his head, Morgan saw why. The other SUV had parked up ahead of them, obviously thinking something was wrong. One of the doors had already opened and Aaron was on his way over. Because it was Aaron and not any of the others, Morgan didn't put as much of a lid on his temper as he might have otherwise. Still, he fought to bring it under some kind of control.

Their older love walked to Spencer's door, waiting as Spencer rolled the window down, one hand still hiding his face. "What on earth is going on here?" Aaron demanded seriously. There was concern in his voice, but they were on the clock and being their boss took precedence at the moment over being their lover. "Did something happen?"

"No!" Spencer rushed to say right as Morgan snapped out "Yes!"

With one look Aaron summed up the scene between the two. He paused, watching their faces. Then he shook his head. "Stay right here." He ordered them. "And shut up until I get back."

Morgan contemplated saying something in response to that, but a look from Aaron warned him that now wasn't the time. So he watched and stewed as Aaron made his way to the other SUV, going to the passenger's door. A moment later Dave stepped out, taking the keys from him and moving to the driver's door while Aaron made his way back over.

Looking over, Morgan saw how red Spencer was behind his hand. Situations like this were mortifying to the younger man. He hated causing a scene in any way, shape, or form. Personally, Morgan didn't care in the least that they might have 'made a scene'. None of that was as important to him as taking care of one of the men he loved. And that was the center of his focus right now. His mind was still wrapped around the fact that Spencer had been insulted by other people. Plenty of times, apparently! He couldn't help how angry that made him. No one had the right to talk to Spencer that way!

Aaron was back at Spencer's window again, his arms folded so that he was leaning in. "I just bought us a short amount of time so this had better be good, you two. Obviously this isn't work related and I can't waste time on a case to indulge in being Aaron. Right now I need to be Hotch. You two know how this has to work." When Morgan started to say something, Aaron held a hand up and shook his head. "You're too pissed to talk right now, Derek. I need this short and quick. Spencer, tell me what the hell happened. Please."

Bringing his other hand up to hide his face, Spencer shook his head. He was obviously beyond uncomfortable with this. But Aaron just reached in, stroking his hand over Spencer's hair gently. "Does this have something to do with what Seaver said to you?"

"You know?" Spencer looked up, surprised.

Morgan tried to reign in his temper. The last thing Spencer needed was yelled at right now. He took a few deep breaths before he said "She told me a little of what she said to you, baby boy. I didn't mention it because I wanted you to talk to me about it. But I told Aaron."

Yet again Spencer buried his face. "Oh man." He muttered. "No wonder you got so upset. I can't believe I just told you that." The last part was more to himself than to either of them. His eyes turned to peek out for a moment at Morgan. "Give me a heads up that you know next time! Better to just ask me outright than to try and trick me."

Aaron looked from one to the other. "Someone tell me what happened, now, before I start getting pissed off."

The look on Aaron's face said he wasn't kidding around. Morgan reached over, resting his hand on Spencer's leg once more, trying to calm the younger man down as well as use the contact to bring himself back under control. "I asked him to tell me what Ashley said or did that upset him and he told me it was nothing he hadn't heard plenty of times before." The anger was back again, making Morgan narrow his eyes. It pleased him to see the same angry look cross Aaron's face. "I got pissed, so I pulled over so we wouldn't wreck."

"Is there someone on the team other than Seaver that's treating you badly?" Aaron demanded. The patience in his voice was totally gone now, replaced with the same anger that was in Morgan. Neither one of them would tolerate someone putting down their youngest. Spencer didn't speak, but he shook his head no. "Is this the first time Seaver's said something to you?" This time, there was no response. Aaron's voice went a little harder. "I'm asking as Unit chief right now and I expect an answer to that question."

Spencer's hands dropped down into his lap and his chin lifted a little. Eyes closed, Spencer took a deep breath, visibly gathering himself. After a short pause, he opened his eyes again, looking much calmer than before. The blush was completely gone and there was a slightly defiant light in his eyes as he looked at Aaron. "No." He said firmly. All signs of his discomfort were gone now. His gaze traveled back and forth between Aaron and Morgan as he spoke. "I'm not going to play this game. Not with them and not with the two of you. If I can't handle a little personal conflict with other agents than I don't deserve to be on a team. I have no official complaint to make about Ashley or about any other agent, nor do I plan on it. Quit treating me like a child and let me handle this on my own."

"As the leader of this group, it's my job to straight out conflict between agents." Aaron pointed out.

But Spencer was already shaking his head. "Only if it becomes a problem, which it hasn't. This hasn't affected my work and I odn't intend to let it. If it was anyone but myself, you'd let this go, Aaron. You know you would. The both of you would. If it was Seaver and Emily, you'd step back and let them handle it, only stepping in if it got too out of control. I'm expecting you to extend me the same courtesy. At the moment, this isn't a problem to my team.

He looked at them again, face serious. "It's a problem to my lovers, but not to my boss and not to my co-worker. Later, if my lovers want to discuss it with me, maybe we will. But not here, not now, and not while we should be working. I'm not wasting precious time with this."

Unbuckling his belt, Spencer reached to open his door, waiting until a shocked Aaron stepped back out of the way. Once out, Spencer moved around and climbed into the backseat. He didn't look at either one of them as he grabbed the journal Morgan had stolen from him before and he started to read right where he'd previously left off.

The only thing Aaron could do was climb into the passenger's seat. He and Morgan exchanged surprised looks; neither one had expected that kind of speech from Spencer. But they both knew he was right. This was not something for working hours. There was a job to be done and an Unsub they needed to catch before he could hurt anyone else. The rest of this would wait until they were off the clock and alone together. Still, Morgan promised himself that the three of them were going to have a long talk at the soonest opportunity. He wasn't going to let something like this fester in Spencer's mind. At the same time, Aaron was promising himself that he was going to keep a closer eye on Ashley and refrain from pairing her with Spencer unless he absolutely had to. No need to create even more of an opportunity for conflict.

Just as Morgan started the car back up, he felt Aaron's hand slide into his. Then he heard Spencer shift in the backseat, his long arm reaching up between the two front seats so that his hand briefly rested over theirs. A small smile tugged at Morgan's lips. Maybe they were all a little worried and annoyed right now and maybe Aaron and Spencer were right; they were on the clock right now. But that didn't mean they couldn't take a little bit of silent comfort from one another while they did their jobs. Morgan pulled the car back out onto the road, their hands staying linked together until right as they pulled into the station.


	8. Chapter 8

The day seemed to drag slowly for the team. Pairs were sent out to do interviews here and there and people were brought in to talk to them, but there wasn't much that they could go on. The only one who didn't seem to be frustrated with the passage of time was Spencer. He was seated at a table by himself in an interrogation room—per his request—reading through the journals and trying to gather as much information as possible. The only break he'd taken was when Dave came to bring him coffee and he told Dave that this was, without a doubt, their Unsub. Once he'd seen the content of the first few, Spencer had jumped ahead to the latest journal to check for the names of the recent victims. They were there.

After that, he asked that he be left alone to finish what he could. It took him a little while to not just read the journals, but to analyze the handwriting as best as he could. All the he was trying to label the place that the Unsub might have taken the victims to.

Meanwhile, the others were trying to get as much information as they could about the man who lived in that house. Garcia had a tag on his information so if he went to a bank, used his ATM, or used his credit cards, she would know about it.

They had gathered back at the station close to dinner time to try and plan out what to do next. Dave opened his mouth to try and suggest they get a quick bite to eat before continuing to work when the door to their conference room opened and Spencer rushed in, a stack of journals in his hand. "The club on Dillard street." He told them while he tossed the journals on the table and moved to the map. He lifted a finger, tapping on the marker that indicated the first abduction site. "His journals say he's making a perfect circle out of these clubs here. Once he reaches the end, he starts all over again. It's the system he's been using for a while now."

"For a while?" Emily looked up from the file she'd been reading at the table. "How long has he been doing this, Reid?"

Spencer moved over to one of the boards, flipping it so he could use the other side. He grabbed a pen and started to write while he spoke. "The journals start two and a half years ago. Our seven victims don't even begin to touch what he's done. Not just here, but over state lines. Four different states, actually." He made four columns on the board and labeled each one at the top. Washington, Oregon, Idaho, California. Under Washington he put the seven victims they already knew as well as four others. In Oregon, ten. Idaho, seven. California, seven.

The team looked at those names and gaped. Thirty five. There were thirty five women up on that board. Morgan was already pulling out his phone and calling Garcia to give her the new list of names. This was above and beyond what they'd thought they would find.

"He's refined his technique." Spencer told them. He put the pen down and moved over to the journals he'd brought with him. Opening one, he sifted through it to the page he wanted. "His earlier kills were much more hesitant. He didn't quite understand what he was doing. He experimented with his herbs as well until he found these two that fit his needs. He won't stop, either. He's convinced that these women really do want him and that eventually he'll find the one strong enough and beautiful enough to be his…he says his mate."

Aaron walked over to look at the map that was hanging up. "You're positive it'll be this club, Reid?"

"Yes, Sir." The automatic reply would have made Aaron smile at any other time. Right then he was too focused on his work. Spencer's reply just made him nod. "Good. We'll patrol. Last night's attack probably upset him, throwing him off his game. He'll have to go out again tonight."

"He'll be sloppy." Dave added in. "Even though he took the girl, he'll want to take another tonight to make it perfect. The ritual isn't right if something messes it up. He'll be compelled to go out again tonight. If we patrol the club, we'll probably have a good chance of seeing something."

Aaron turned around and nodded at Dave. "He's right. We'll split into teams and work both the inside and the outside of the club. Prentiss, you and Seaver take the inside. Morgan, why don't you go in with them? You three should blend easily in a club. Reid, Dave and I can watch the outside to see if we can catch him leaving with someone. Hopefully we can nail this guy." With his orders, the team started to prepare themselves to leave.

CMCM

*I know I skip over the case work here, but I'm not that great at it and I really didn't want to write it. The case isn't really important to the story anyways. Sorry if that upsets some of you.*

The BAU team sighed as they all settled in to the jet the next morning. It had been a long night for all of them and they were more than ready to head home and relax. After waiting outside the club for two hours, their Unsub was finally caught as he came out to his car, mostly dragging the woman with him. Aaron, Dave and Spencer had confronted him while Morgan, Emily and Ashley had come out of the club to back them up. Once they got him at the station, interrogation had been easy. With the journals to back them, the man knew that he wouldn't be able to get away with everything and had given a full confession.

The woman that he'd been trying to take had stayed the night at the hospital to get the drug out of her system, but she was being released to go home that day. With everything wrapped up nicely, the team had happily gathered their stuff and headed to the jet to go home.

Since they'd been up all night, it didn't take long for them to start to fall asleep. Emily was the first one out, with Ashley close behind, the two of them almost leaning into one another. Over on the couch, Spencer was curled up, knees to his chest and arms resting on top of them. His head was resting there and his face was relaxing as he too drifted off. On the other end of the couch sat Morgan, his typical headphones on, his eyes closed. He could have been awake as he listened to his music or he could have fallen asleep already. It was hard to tell.

That left Dave and Aaron sitting across from one another at one of the tables. Aaron was filling out a few reports that would need to be turned in when they arrived home. A small part of his mind was enjoying the fact that they would soon be home and he would be free to go with his lovers and be somewhere that they wouldn't have to work so hard to be quiet. It might make it a little easier for them to have their 'talk' that had been delayed for work, too. Lost in thought, he wasn't paying any attention to things around him until Dave spoke in a soft voice. "So, you going to tell me what's going on between Reid and Seaver?"

Looking up in surprise, Aaron found Dave's smiling face looking at him. "Excuse me?"

"Oh, come on, Aaron. I'm not an idiot. Reid looked upset yesterday when he and Seaver got to the house and Morgan sent Seaver to work with us, something that isn't typical for him. Add on that you deliberately kept Reid with us and you've been short with Seaver. All that points to her having done something to upset him." Dave summarized with a roll of his eyes. "So, I repeat. You going to tell me what's going on?"

He should have figured that the other profiler would have picked up on it. There really wasn't much that Dave missed. "She made some comments to Reid about his apparent uselessness in the field. Implying that he was simply the brain of our team and that we sent him on useless trips to keep him away from the field."

Dave let out a low whistle, his eyebrows climbing. "No wonder Morgan looks like he wants to bite her head off. Are you going to have a talk with her about respect inside the team?"

"That was the plan." A wry grin curved Aaron's lips as he remembered Spencer's passionate speech in the car. It had surprised him but it had also made him a little proud. It was good to see the younger man learning to stand up for himself and speak his mind. "Reid basically told me that I needed to butt out. He said that he has no official complaint to make about her and that until he does, I need to let them resolve it between one another."

That had Dave laughing softly. "Kiddo's getting some backbone. Nice to see." He paused, looking over to where Emily and Ashley had finally leaned in to one another in their sleep, almost looking like they'd just slumped against the other. "Maybe the Unit Chief shouldn't talk to her, but a friend could have a little talk about manners." He suggested. Turning back to Aaron, he threw him a wink. "Reid hasn't said for me to leave it alone and I've pretty much taken to showing Ashley the ropes around here. I'll give her a gentle little reminder about the importance of everyone on the team and the types of things she shouldn't say."

That was perfect. Aaron couldn't stop the quick grin that spread over his lips. "Officially, I can't control your conversations, Dave. Outside of that…thanks."

"Anytime. Probably better than you or Morgan saying something to her, anyways. You're both a little too…invested to keep a level head."

Those loaded words made Aaron freeze. It took everything he had to keep his composure and not betray all the secrecy they'd worked towards. Before he could figure out something to say, Dave gave another laugh. "Relax, Aaron. I'm not about to say anything. I haven't yet so far and I've known for quite a while. I'm happy for the three of you."

"What?" It wasn't the most intelligent response, but Aaron really couldn't think of anything else to say. He was stunned by the fact that his friend not only knew about his relationship, but had known for a while now. And he approved! How had Dave figured it out? They'd been so careful with one another at work and even off work when there were others around! _I was right earlier. There's not much that slips past him._

Dave reached over and patted Aaron's hand where it sat on the files. "Relax. I'm the only one that knows anything. Trust me. Anyone else thinks it's just those two. I'm the only one that's really seen beyond that. To a person who knows you as well as I do, it wasn't that difficult to see the way you care for them. Both of them. You three have done wonderfully for one another."

For one brief second Aaron kept quiet, debating what to say or how to act. But he gave up that internal debate with a soft sigh. This was Dave, a man he had known for a long time and a man he respected. They were good friends, on and off the clock. And if he was honest with himself, it felt wonderful to be able to openly talk with his friend instead of being so secretive. With one last glance to make sure the girls were really asleep, Aaron let himself smile at Dave. "They make me happy. Happier than I've been in a long time."

"I can see that. You guys seem perfectly matched together. Three different personalities that just kind of mesh. It's made you happier and a little more relaxed. Morgan's definitely happier and mellower than before. And Reid seems to be flowering under the attention. You two have given him the security to get more of a backbone."

"He's more confident to speak his mind now that he knows he has people who love him for him." Aaron agreed with his friend. "He's still so self-conscious most of the time and we know he worries that we'll leave him. But I don't ever see that happening."

Dave's eyes traveled over to where Spencer was sleeping. "Me either. You guys are like a unit, but he seems to be your center. If it was just you and Reid or Morgan and Reid, the relationship might lean more towards caretaking. You and Morgan alone would be too volatile. Two alpha males constantly battling to be the dominant. But together, you all balance one another out."

"That's exactly it." In short words, Dave had summed it all up. It made Aaron's smile grow a little bigger.

Turning back to Aaron, the older profiler gave a grin. "Just wanted to let you know that I'm happy for you guys, basically, and that you have someone who's on your side. On that note, I think I'm gonna go ahead and go lay down now."

As Dave rose, Aaron sat back in his seat and watched his friend. "Hey, Dave?" He waited until Dave looked down at him before he said "Thanks."

"Anytime." Dave gave a chuckle and moved back over to his seat.

Aaron smiled as he looked back down at the folders on the table in front of him, his mood a little uplifted. Focused on his work and on the conversation he'd just had, Aaron never noticed the pair of eyes that were barely open, watching him as they had been for most of the conversation. Oblivious, he happily went back to work.


	9. Chapter 9

When the jet landed back home, the group of tired profilers disembarked, each one ready to go home. Dave climbed into his car and drove away after waving goodbye to everyone. Emily offered Ashley a ride to the Bureau to pick up her car, which the young woman accepted. Morgan offered to drive Spencer home—typical of the two of them. Everyone knew Spencer took the bus to work. As everyone was getting into their cars, Aaron bid them a good night and went to his own car.

He'd only driven a few blocks away when his cell phone went off with a text.

**Morgan: My place? :D**

A chuckle slid past Aaron's lips as he navigated the deserted road and typed his response.

**Hotchner: Works 4 me. Want me 2 pick up food?**

**Morgan: Do u think I'll say no 2 free food? Brat says he wants burgers**

Though they did stay at Aaron's house sometimes, mostly when they knew Jack was going to be there or they wanted a change of scenery, they typically stayed at Morgan's house. His house sat on one of the many properties he'd bought and the only one that no one else knew the location of. No one came to find them while they were there and there was enough property for Clooney to run and play and for their neighbors to be few and far between.

After their relationship had grown, the three of them having been together for a little while, Morgan had remolded this property, changing a few things. Expanding on others. It was a four bedroom house, which gave them their bedroom and three offices, one for each man. The master bath had been remodeled to accommodate the large shower as well as the Jacuzzi tub that were put in there—that had been a luxury they'd all pooled in on and splurged with. The shower was large enough to fit the three of them, as was the Jacuzzi tub. In all actuality, this was _their_ house, not just Morgan's. Despite Spencer and Aaron having their own homes, those were mostly for a cover and in Aaron's case, for Jack. But this was their home.

Much to Aaron's amusement, he saw the glowing lights of the golden arches up ahead of him just shortly after he read Morgan's last text. Apparently their 'brat' was going to get his wishes. The senior profiler pulled in to the drive-thru, not even pausing at the menu board. He knew what he wanted and he knew what the other two liked to eat.

Thirty minutes later he was pulling into the driveway of their house. After parking the car, Aaron gathered his keys and the bags of food and climbed out of the car. He grabbed his go bag and briefcase from the backseat and expertly juggled everything as he made his way to the house. Just as he reached the front door it was flung open. Spencer stood there, a mile wide grin on his face. "You got burgers!" he exclaimed cheerfully, unloading the bags of food from Aaron's arms.

The older man couldn't help but laugh as he came in the house, kicking the door shut behind him. Morgan was sitting in 'his' recliner—they each had one that they preferred to sit in, as well as the long couch they constantly shared—and he was laughing at Spencer. The young genius had set the food on the coffee table before folding his long legs and sitting right beside the table on the floor.

While Aaron put his briefcase, bag and coat in the close, he heard Morgan moving around behind him. By the time Aaron had turned around and was making his way to his chair, Morgan was walking back into the room, two beers in hand, one of which he handed to Aaron. The older man grinned and took it gratefully. "Thanks, Derek."

Grinning, Morgan bent and stole a kiss. "No prob. You're like me; after a case, you want your chair and a beer."

"You two can have all the beer you want." Spencer tossed over his shoulder with a slight curl to his lip. He turned and handed one of the bags to Morgan, having sorted out their stuff to individual bags, and then passing the other one to Aaron. "I'll stick with the good stuff." To punctuate his point, he picked up his glass of cognac off the table and took a sip, humming softly in pleasure. Spencer wasn't much of a drinker, but when he did, he was particular about what he drank.

Aaron took a long pull from his bottle. He slid his shoes off of his feet and crossed his legs, resting one ankle on the other knee. "Sometimes a good beer is the perfect end to a day." He countered Spencer's argument. This was one the three of them had shared before and that never failed to amuse them.

"No, beer is for football games and frat parties." Humor lit Spencer's eyes as he argued. He unwrapped his burger, laying the paper out on his lap as a napkin. "It's perfect to end the day with a glass of cognac, or a smooth chardonnay."

That drew Morgan into the conversation. "Like hell. Beer's always good." To prove his point, he took a drink from his, winking at Aaron.

As the playful banter continued back and forth, Aaron felt himself relaxing. This was what he looked forward to at the end of the day. This easy camaraderie; the playful jokes and arguments. To sit back with people he loved and who loved him without a single care of who would see them or what would be said or if there was a chance they would be caught. They were just free to be themselves. If it weren't for these moments, Aaron had no idea how he would get through the long days.

Finally dinner was finished and the garbage was disposed of. By mutual agreement, Morgan and Aaron didn't indulge in any more beers, wanting to be clearheaded for what was coming. Now that they'd relaxed, it was time for the discussion that had been delayed. They could see that Spencer knew it was coming, too. The younger man had moved to sit on the couch, curling his feet up underneath him, tucking himself into the corner. It was both a comfortable position for him as well as a defensive one.

To keep from crowding the other man, Aaron and Morgan both sat back in their recliners, getting comfortable. It was, unsurprisingly, Aaron who started the conversation. "We know you don't want to talk to us about this, Spencer. But I want to ask you now, not as your boss, but as your lover—what did Seaver say to you to hurt you so much?"

Eyes sliding closed, Spencer cradled his glass of cognac in one hand, his other hand nervously tapping against his leg. "There's no point in worrying about it, guys. It's just words." He tried.

Neither one of them were buying it. Morgan sat forward, resting his arms on his legs, looking earnestly at Spencer. "We know how badly words can hurt, baby boy. What she said, it hurt you. Can't you tell us and let us help you chase away the hurt?"

"Like I said, we're asking as your lovers. I'm not your boss right now. Derek isn't your co-worker. As the men who love you, we want to make this better. We want to help you stop hurting. Can you let us do that? Can you let us help you, honey?"

It was the term of endearment from Aaron that really did Spencer in. Morgan used pet names easily, even for his friends. The ones for his lovers were more special, with a different tone that always thrilled Spencer to hear and made Aaron smile and feel loved. Aaron only used pet names with the two men he loved and his son. To hear the tough man soften enough to say them would almost always soften both Spencer and Morgan. Spencer….Spencer almost never used them. The only times he did was when either of his partners was really, really hurting. When he went into full caretaker, protector mode, the pet names slipped past his lips without thought.

He tightened his hand around his glass for a moment. He didn't like thinking of the things people said to him and he knew his lovers wouldn't take well to hearing them, either. "It…it wasn't just her. Not really." Spencer started out slowly. His words almost seemed pulled from him. "I mean, a person is entitled to their opinion. And Seaver didn't really come out and say anything directly rude. She just gave her viewpoint of the dynamics of the team. It's just…" Agitated, he set his glass down on the table, taking that moment to try and find his words. "I just get frustrated when people look at me and all they see is my intelligence. That's not all that I am, you know."

Morgan started to say something, but Aaron held a hand up, gesturing for him to stay quiet. He had a feeling that, if they said nothing, Spencer would say plenty on his own. This was something the younger man needed to get out.

Sure enough, Spencer continued on a moment later, his words coming faster and faster as they started to pour from him. "They may have had to make exceptions for me to get into the field, but that doesn't mean that I don't know how to handle myself. I passed my gun qualification just like every other agent. Granted, stating all the exceptions they made for me in the initial meeting with Seaver probably didn't give a very good first impression, but still. I am a qualified agent. I've earned the title. So why do people insist on thinking that I'm this weak kid who cannot handle himself out in the field?"

Suddenly too agitated to sit, Spencer rose, pacing the floor. "I'm not useless outside of my brain. I know I'm not. But when people persist in insinuating or outright saying that I am, it gets to me. How could it not? Words are just words, yes, but it's as you said, words do hurt. I've fought my whole life not to be weak. I've worked just as hard as any other agent to get to where I am. Harder, sometimes! I have not only my age, but my size against me. Those two factors instantly make me appear a weak link in a group. Factoring in my intelligence and my social awkwardness and people start to view me as a walking encyclopedia. But there's more to me than that!"

Spinning, he stared at his two lovers as if they doubted his words. "I'm perfectly capable of handling myself! I am not useless or weak or inferior. Each person has their own strengths and should play up to those. But that doesn't mean that it's their only use! I'm not just intelligent. I'm not just the resident genius. I may not be as strong as either of you, or as intimidating, but I can hold my own in interrogation. I can handle interviews with victims and witnesses. I can chase down an Unsub just the same as the rest of the team! I am not useless and I'm not a damn liability!"

Now was the time to say something. Now was the time to look at Spencer and quietly tell him "No, you're not." Aaron kept his voice level to counter the strong emotions that were playing in Spencer even though his heart ached to hear the things others had told him. "You are a valuable member of this team and quite an asset. Not just for your brain, but for your other skills as well as for yourself. I would trust you to have my back in the field any day, Spencer."

"So would I." Morgan agreed easily. There was no hesitation to his words. "You are smart, yes. But you're also funny when you want to be, kind, gentle, compassionate, charming, and friendly. You can be tough if the situation calls for it. Maybe you don't always go the physical route as others do. Maybe you don't fight your way out where others would. No, you do something none of them can. You use that big old brain of yours to think of a way to get out of any situation with minimal violence. Like Aaron said, I'd trust you to have my back anytime. I'd feel safe, knowing that you'd help find a way out without violence if there was one and you can hold your own if violence does become necessary."

Aaron pushed up from his chair to walk over to his young lover. There he took him into his arms, bringing their bodies close. "You are most definitely not useless. Neither at work nor anywhere else. You're a wonderful person, Spencer. Don't you ever let anyone convince you otherwise."

Morgan had risen as well, stepping up beside them. Both men opened their arms to include him in the hug. "And if they try, you just remember one thing, pretty boy. Your team, the people you work with, trust and respect you. And you'll always have Aaron and I to help remind you exactly how wonderful you are to us."

Emotions were flickering back and forth in Spencer's expressive eyes. Finally they settled on love; the emotion pouring out from them. He leaned in and kissed first Aaron, then Morgan. "I love you two." He whispered. "Thank you."

Sliding his hand up Spencer's back so that he could lightly stroke over his hair, Aaron gave him a smile full of love. "I love you too. Both of you. And you're welcome."

It was Morgan who flashed a grin they all knew very well and who started to tug lightly on them. "Come on." HE said with a mischievous twinkle to his eyes. "I'm not going to say it. Why don't you two come with me and I'll show you exactly how much I love you both?"

His good humor was infectious. Aaron turned his head to grin at Spencer. "What do you think, Spencer? Should we?"

Spencer's grin was just as wide. "I guess we could. There's nothing better to do, really." He teased. When Morgan smacked his ass, Spencer laughed and yanked away, taking off toward the bedroom. His laughter echoed down the hall.

With a smirk and a twinkle in his eyes that no one but these two had ever seen, Aaron looked at Morgan and said "Last one there loses." And then he took was taking off down the hall. The sound of their laughter filled the house, a perfect end to a long day.


	10. Chapter 10

Two days passed before the team had to report back to work. The time off had done all of them a world of good. It had relaxed them after this last case. For the loving trio, it had been a nice little haven for them. For two days they only had to think of one another. Each one of them kept their phones on for work and other emergencies, but nothing cropped up. Aaron managed to get an afternoon with Jack, making the older man extremely happy. While he was gone, his lovers took care of laundry and housework before settling down for a game of poker that lasted until Aaron came home. Naturally, Spencer won more often than not, but occasionally Morgan beat him. Sometimes on his own, and sometimes Spencer let him—though he would never admit that to anyone.

When they went back to work, it was with smiles on their faces. Aaron went in first, as always. The Unit Chief was always in before the rest of his team. Not too far behind him was Dave. Then the others slowly started to trickle in. It looked as if everyone was a little more relaxed, a little happier, after just a simple two days at home with nothing to do. All of them except for Ashley. The girl made as if she was happy, but when she thought no one was looking, there was an uncomfortable expression on her face that didn't go as unnoticed as she hoped.

Morgan and Aaron both found it hard to keep themselves from venting some of their frustration with the woman. Repeatedly the two had to remind themselves that what Spencer had told them had been lover to lover, not anything connected with work. He had explicitly said that he wasn't going to file a report and that whatever was going on was between him and Ashley, so they tried to respect him by staying out of it. That didn't mean that they liked it, though.

To Spencer, it was obvious how hard they were fighting to keep themselves under control and the effort only made him love them all the more. Every time he saw Morgan close his eyes and take a deep breath instead of snap at Ashley, he felt his heart thrill. The same when he would see Aaron put on his shuttered expression and talk just as politely as he always did. The fact that the two not only loved him enough, but _respected_ him enough to let him handle this on his own….it was one of the greatest feelings.

Still, nothing good lasts forever. That was something Spencer would tell himself in bed that night. It was the story of his life. Every time something good happened for him, just when things seemed to be going right, there was always something that came along and messed it up. Always. This time was no different.

The bomb that dropped on them came late in the afternoon. Spencer was sitting at his desk, filing reports—not only his, but some of Morgan and Emily's as well—when Erin Strauss came walking into the bullpen, marching straight for Aaron's door. That was the first thing that set off warning bells in Spencer's brain. He didn't know why; visits from her were always uncomfortable for Aaron, but they weren't always bad. But something in his stomach told him that this time, something was very, very wrong.

After Strauss knocked and was admitted to Aaron's office, the door shutting behind her, Spencer couldn't resist turning to share a look with Morgan. It didn't help when he saw the look in his dark lover's eyes. The same look Spencer was sure was in his. Morgan was just as worried as he was. There was something wrong.

They worked silently for another few minutes—or, at least, pretended to work. Spencer couldn't help darting his gaze up to Aaron's office every so often. There was nothing to see, though. The blinds had been drawn. That only made the feeling in Spencer's stomach grow worse.

Dave's voce suddenly sounded behind him, making him jump in his seat and drop his pen. "Wonder what's got her all pumped up all of a sudden." The senior profiler said.

After taking a deep breath to calm his racing heart, Spencer turned to look up at Dave. The older man smiled down at him and clapped a hand on his shoulder. "Sorry, kiddo. Didn't mean to scare you."

"It's ok." The reassurance came automatically past Spencer's lips. His nerves were still eating at his stomach as he turned to look at the office once more and chew on his lip. "I guess we'll find out when Hotch comes out, right?" He finally said.

Emily leaned forward on her desk, looking between the office and her friends. "I hope she's not jumping on his case for something again. I don't know how he deals with that kind of stuff. Politics drive me insane and that's all it is with her."

"Aaron's good at his job. He may not like the politics, but he does well with them." Dave was attempting to sound reassuring. To Spencer's ears, the words fell flat.

Silence suddenly filled the bullpen when the door to Aaron's office opened. Spencer quickly looked down at his files, trying not to be caught watching. Dave held no such qualms. He stood behind Spencer, one hand resting on the back of his chair, watching with one raised eyebrow as Strauss stepped partially out the door. Then she did something none of them had been expecting. "Agent Morgan? Dr. Reid? If you two would come here, please."

That sick feeling in Spencer's stomach grew even more. He had to swallow down the lump that suddenly built in his throat. Unable to help it, he was all nerves as he rose from his chair, his hands immediately going to his pockets to keep from wringing them. Morgan looked calm and cool as he too rose and moved with Spencer up the walkway to their boss's office. Neither looked behind them at their friends as they walked inside and Strauss shut the door behind them.

The first place Spencer looked was over to his boss, who was standing behind his desk, his face set into an unreadable mask. Only because they knew him so well were Spencer and Morgan able to read the living fury that was buried deep in the man's eyes. Whatever was going on, it was bad—and they both had a feeling they knew what it was. Only one thing they could think of would call them all up here at the same time. Either Strauss had finally heard the rumors about Morgan and Spencer, or she knew about the three of them. Either could prove disastrous.

Erin Strauss moved to stand by the window for a moment before turning to face them. "I assume you two have figured out why I've called you up here?"

Words wouldn't come to Spencer. He licked suddenly dry lips, trying to think of what to say, what to do. Morgan, however, stayed calm and steady. "My apologies, ma'am, but I'm not sure what this is about."

Instead of Strauss answering, it was Aaron who spoke next, his voice hard and flat. "Apparently an unnamed source has informed her that the three of us are in a relationship. Though, I've yet to be told who this informant is." The last part he directed at the Section Chief, who returned his look with a cold stare of her own. "The name of my source is unnecessary, Agent Hotchner. What is important is the validity of the claim. My source says they heard the words from your own lips. So far, you've done nothing to deny this."

"And why should I, ma'am?" Aaron turned to face her now. There was nothing on him that showed any inner turmoil. "Even if I did, it wouldn't be believed. So what's the point of making tiring arguments that will eventually lead us nowhere?"

Strauss leveled him with a serious stare. "I suggest you watch your tone, Agent Hotchner." She warned him. Then her eyes were traveling over the other two in the room. In that expression, Spencer could see something different in her gaze. A slight discomfort, he thought. Was it discomfort at the idea of their relationship? Her next words changed his opinion. "Something needs to be done about this. As it is, I'm unsure as to what. The rules on fraternization are clear. According to policy, I should let all of you go, or at the very least transfer two of you."

_I should_. Spencer held on to those two words. Maybe her discomfort wasn't at their relationship. Maybe, just maybe, Strauss didn't want to lose three members of the team. He held no delusions that she cared about them. Time and time again she proved that she didn't. But even she would have a hard time replacing three well qualified, seasoned agents.

It was that knowledge that gave Spencer the courage to finally speak. His voice startled all three occupants of the room. "Protocol would suggest that you, at bare minimum, reprimand us, ma'am." He started out slowly. Each word was chosen with caution. "I suppose that it is logical for you to choose to fire us, or to transfer two of us, although transferring wouldn't really put a stop to this alleged relationship." _Don't incriminate yourself. No one had some right out and admitted or denied anything. Use your words cautiously. _"And if you fired us, you would lose three very capable agents. I doubt that the director is ready to lose any of us. So that means that a different resolution must be met."

Morgan was watching him with wide eyes, practically trying to will him to silence. Aaron just had that contemplative look on his face. They both knew him well and knew that he wouldn't say anything to mess this up, but Spencer could see that Morgan thought his words were rash and Aaron most likely was catching on to what Spencer was trying to do.

The Section Chief looked directly at Spencer, making him want to squirm. "Do you have any suggestions for this different resolution, Dr. Reid?" Her voice was hard, but it was curious. That was what he'd been hoping for.

His hands gripped a little tighter in his pockets and he took a deep breath to keep himself calm. "If the complaint made to you was verbal and not written, then my suggestion would be for you to observe, ma'am. If no one but you and your complainant know of these allegations, then it allows you to act with discretion. You could observe our interactions to determine if this alleged relationship affects our work in any way. If it does, you would have just cause to pursue this in whatever manner you deem fit. But if it does not, then I see no reason why this team should lose three of its members."

The three men couldn't help but hope when they saw her watching Spencer contemplatively. When she spoke again, it was slow and thoughtful. "The last thing the Bureau wants is to lose three good agents. But I'm not sure I want to potentially lose my job if these allegations came to light and it was known I did nothing about it. If certain people discovered your relationship…"

"Alleged relationship." Aaron interjected.

Strauss eyed him for a second before nodding. "Your alleged relationship, there could be trouble that comes down not on just you three, but on myself as well. I don't quite know if I want to risk that."

Morgan shifted his stance a little, his expression as neutral as he could make it. "But do you want to risk losing three agents in one move, ma'am?"

"I don't have to lose you. There are other teams, other departments, where your able minds could be put to work. A transfer wouldn't stop this alleged relationship, as you pointed out, Dr. Reid. But it would be easier to overlook if you three were not on the same team anymore. One of you could stay here while two of you transfer out."

They could see that she was seriously thinking about this. None of them wanted to transfer. Spencer didn't know if he could bring himself to work on any other BAU team and none of the other jobs she would transfer him to in the Bureau were of any interest to him. His mind scrambled for something to stop this; to bring her back to the idea he'd suggested.

In an instant he decided to lay all his cards out on the table. His chin lifted the slightest bit. "Is this your intent then, ma'am? To transfer us away from this team?" He was surprised by how cool his voice was. Beside him, he felt Morgan's fury almost radiating off of him. Aaron was looking like he was ready to say something, anything, but the look on his face said it would be temper talking. Spencer gave him the briefest shake of his head, requesting that he let him finish this. To his surprise, Aaron gave him a minute nod in return.

Strauss crossed her arms almost defensively over her chest. "To protect us all, it's the only option I see available. I just don't know if I want to risk the option you suggested, Dr. Reid. I don't know if I'm willing to put my neck on the line with yours. A transfer seems the most logical response."

He nodded, as if he'd expected nothing less. And he hadn't. He'd known that would be her answer. With deliberate movements, Spencer stepped away from Morgan and up to Aaron's desk, stopping at the edge where he could look at both the Section Chief and the Unit Chief. Calmly he reached into his pocket, pulling out his credentials. As wide eyes watched, he laid them down on the desk. "Consider this my official resignation then, ma'am, Sir."

His words seemed to echo around the room. Behind him he heard Morgan's surprised "Reid…" Even Aaron had a pleading look on his face. It was nothing compared to the shock that Erin Strauss wore openly, though. "What?" she exclaimed.

"I love my job, ma'am. I love what I do. But I refuse to work on another team with agents I do not know and who do not know me. There is no other department here that I would want to work in. The BAU and this team are my family."

"So you're going to quit because you're being transferred?" Strauss demanded. There was a hint of panic in the edges of her eyes, though. There was one thing Spencer knew from the first day he started here; the FBI did not want to lose his brain. They had brought him in early, younger than any other agent on record, because of his brains. That wasn't something they would want to lose.

Putting his hands back in his pockets, Spencer looked at her and shrugged. "I'm sorry, ma'am."

"Where are you going to go, Reid?" Aaron asked him.

It was the question Spencer had hoped he would ask. It took everything he had not to smile at the man. "I've been approached by the CIA, Department of Defense, DIA, MCIA, NGA, NSA, OICI, Homeland Security, DEA, INR, and a few other places, Sir. It shouldn't take me long to find a fit. Though most of them have come to the understanding that I didn't plan on leaving my job, some of them still pursue me for work and some of them I do consultations with. It wouldn't take much to turn a consultation position into a full time job."

Strauss made a low, angry sound in her throat. "I'm not fond of threats, Dr. Reid." She almost growled at him.

He turned serious eyes to her. "Nor do I make threats, ma'am. I spoke with the utmost sincerity." _Just one last push_ he thought to himself. Adjusting his vest, he stepped back. "Now, if you don't mind, I need to speak with the team and clear out my desk. Sir, Ma'am, Morgan." With those goodbyes, he turned and headed to the door.

His hand had just touched the knob when Strauss spoke again. "At the first sign of trouble, I will transfer the group of you." She announced firmly. "Prove to me that this won't change your work. Prove my fears wrong, Agents."

Spencer turned slowly, meeting her gaze for a moment. "Yes, ma'am." Was all he said. He'd pushed her enough for the morning. The other two echoed his sentiment.

With one last look at them, Strauss picked up Spencer's credentials off the desk, walking over to him to hand them to him. He took them silently before opening the door for her. She said not a single word as she left the office. Just as quietly, Spencer shut the door behind her. Then he turned wide eyes to his lovers. All of a sudden a grin was spreading over his lips. They both wore the same expressions. The truth had come out and somehow, so far, they'd survived it.


	11. Chapter 11

Morgan stared at Spencer, unable to wipe the grin off his face. "Damn, pretty boy." He finally said. There was a note of appreciation in his voice. "Talk about kicking ass."

"No kidding." Aaron agreed. He had a look on his face that spoke clearly of pride.

Chewing on his lip, Spencer flushed and looked down, his hands going to his pockets. Gone was the confident guy he'd been just moments before. Now he was back to their slightly awkward, slightly shy Dr. Reid that they both knew and loved so much. With the blinds closed and the door shut, Morgan couldn't resist the urge to reach a hand out and snag Spencer's arm, yanking him forward. He grinned as Spencer stumbled into him. But Morgan caught him and, before Spencer could protest, planted a firm kiss on his lips, hands going to Spencer's hips to help hold him in place. Just as always, Spencer responded openly, wantonly, his body arching into Morgan's, arms coming up to twine around his neck.

Aaron moved up behind them, taking only a second to press the lock on his door. Then he was pressing his front against Spencer's back, his arms wrapping around the both of them, his lips finding that soft skin right under Spencer's ear that had the younger man shuddering between them. "I've never seen you stand up to anyone like that before. Do you realize how good you looked with that pride on your face? So calm, so sure."

Breaking their kiss, Morgan bent so that he was on the other side of Spencer's neck. The doctor tipped his head back, letting it rest on Aaron's shoulder, letting them both taste and nip and tease along his sensitive neck. It was such a turn on for Morgan, to watch the way his young lover gave himself totally over to the passion when it was in him. The way he seemed to lose his inhibitions in the moment. As he bit Spencer's earlobe, sucking softly to soothe the flesh and pulling a gasp from Spencer, Morgan let go of his waist with one hand to slide it back and curl it around Aaron's hip, pulling them closer together.

"If…if you guys don't let me go…" Spencer was gasping his words, his body starting to roll between the two of them, creating a delicious friction. "I'm going to have to go find a way to change clothes….without being seen…"

"Maybe we want to thank you." Aaron murmured. He lifted his gaze, catching Morgan's eye. What Morgan saw there had him grinning. The two exchanged a silent message that they both understood. The older man shifted a little, letting his arms wrap totally around Spencer's waist, palms resting flat on his stomach and chest while his mouth moved. Instinctively Spencer turned his head, letting Aaron capture his lips for a kiss.

Humming slightly, Morgan pulled his hands back, letting his fingers work quickly before Spencer could realize what he was doing. Once he had the belt and slacks undone, Morgan let himself lean in, turning their kiss three ways. Then he pulled back and smirked at the look of obvious pleasure that was on Spencer's face.

Morgan watched as Aaron distracted the young man; then, when Spencer was paying no attention, Morgan let himself slide down into a squat, putting him right where he wanted to be. He slid one hand down inside of Spencer's open slacks, wrapping around what he wanted, making Spencer gasp and arch. As Morgan pulled out his prize, he looked up at Aaron and winked. "Keep the kid quiet while I thank him for us, would you? As hot as he is when he makes those sounds, the whole bullpen doesn't need to hear him."

"I think I can handle that." Aaron teased. Together, the men moved. Aaron took Spencer's lips with his while Morgan leaned forward and, without warning, pulled Spencer's length right into his mouth, sliding down until the tip was touching the back of his throat. He felt Spencer's full body shudder and heard the muffled groan that Aaron swallowed down.

They were at work, which meant there was a risk of getting caught, and they were in Aaron's office which was right by the bullpen. For those reasons, they didn't really have time to waste here. They couldn't take their time as they usually would. No, this was going to be a quick 'thank you'. With that in mind, Morgan set about driving his lover as crazy as possible. He knew what Spencer liked and he put that to use. He pulled back and slid forward again, letting his nose nestle against the thatch of curls and swallowing as much of him as he could down his throat.

As his head started to move, he slid his hands up, letting his nails trace lightly over the bottom of Spencer's stomach. He looked up, watching as Spencer lifted one arm, his hand gripping into Aaron's head to support himself and to hold the other man into their kiss. Spencer's other hand dropped, so hesitant against the skin of Morgan's scalp, not forcing his movement but riding with him as Morgan's head continued to bob. It was an erotic sight to watch, seeing the way that Spencer trembled between them, hips rolling. To see how hard he was trying to restrain the usual noises he made. God, Morgan loved those sounds. He loved making his lovers lose control so much that they couldn't stop the noises they made. But, they didn't have time for that now.

He felt as Spencer grew closer to the edge; his hips were jerking slightly and he was almost panting into Aaron's kiss. Morgan swallowed him down until once again he had his nose pressed against those curls and he hummed slightly. It was the combination of being deep throated and the vibrations that finally threw Spencer over the edge. His hips jerked and his body went tense as his orgasm slammed through him. Aaron barely managed to keep him in a kiss to prevent him from shouting down the whole building, fisting a hand in his hair to keep him there.

When he was finished and his body had gone limp in Aaron's arms, Morgan slid his way back up, smirking slightly as he did. He and Aaron shared a kiss, pressing Spencer between them, the taste of him now on both their lips. When they pulled apart, they were smiling. "Let's get him sat down before he sinks to the floor." Morgan suggested. Aaron gave a snicker that was very un-Hotch like.

Together, they moved their half asleep lover, getting him onto the couch. Once he was seated, the two older men stood and looked down at him. "Shit, Aaron. He's gonna have to stay in here with you for a while." Morgan said with a shake of his head.

Spencer furrowed his brows, looking up at them with his typical post-orgasmic sleepy look. "Why?"

Chuckling, Aaron bent and kissed his forehead, unable to resist it. "Spencer, all anyone would have to do is look at you to know what you've been doing. You can have a cup of coffee in here and do some work until you wake back up again and your brain turns back on."

"Your brain can't actually shut off." Curling his legs up, Spencer was obviously trying to stay awake. "Not even while you're sleeping."

That just made the other two chuckle again. Morgan moved to recline against Aaron's desk, choosing to let Spencer have a moment to bring himself back under control. "You got any idea who our rat is?" He asked Aaron.

All at once the Unit Chief looked pissed. He didn't have on his typical calm mask; no, his temper showed through clearly. "She said her source heard it from my own lips. The only person I talked about this with is Dave, just like I told you guys, and Dave wouldn't go rat on us. The only other people that were around were Prentiss and Seaver."

"I don't see Prentiss saying anything to Strauss." Morgan looked to the closed office door, thinking about the people on the other side in the bullpen. "But that only leaves Seaver. You really think she'd hate us enough to go report this to Strauss?"

From his spot on the couch, Spencer spoke up, though his eyes stayed closed. "It wouldn't be a matter of hate, Derek. She's a new agent and she's rather black and white in her view of structure in the workplace. To her, fraternization between team members, especially when one of them is a superior officer, would be extremely unprofessional and something that she feels required to report. She doesn't do it out of hatred. She most likely does it out of a sense of duty." He paused, then added "If it was her."

"Who else would it be?" Morgan countered.

Aaron shook his head before bringing his hands up to rub at his temples, most likely trying to push back one of his headaches. The man got far too many of those. "We'll discuss this more at home. As it is right now, we need to get back to work, all of us. Tonight, we need to discuss what we want to do about Seaver and what to do about Garcia and Prentiss. If Seaver knows and she's the one that started problems, that only leaves the other two not knowing and I have a feeling we're going to need as many people on our side as we can get."

Almost as if their words summoned someone, a knock sounded on the door. Aaron was the one to move over, opening the door enough that he and Morgan were visible, but Spencer wasn't. The young doctor was trying to sit up and straighten up, but he wasn't quite presentable yet.

Emily was the one on the other side of the door. "Sorry to interrupt, Sir, but a case just came in and Rossi says it's a bad one. Apparently there's no time for a briefing—we've got to head straight to the jet."

Like a flick of a switch, the three men put off their personal faces and went back to being Agents. In no time at all, they had their go-bags gathered and were on their way to the jet.

* * *

The team seemed to all shift and sigh as they scanned the files waiting for them on the jet. At first, no one said a word, simply reading their files as their flight took off. One look was all it took for them to realize that this was going to be a difficult case. Four days and already there were fourteen bodies in the morgue and two missing persons. There were ten men and four women and the two missing were men. From where he was sitting on the couch, Spencer found himself wishing he'd sat over in the chairs with the others. Right then, he could have used one of his lovers beside him. Even just a brush of the leg. Because there were two things that all these people had in common. One, they were all in relationships. Two, they were all homosexual.

Spencer couldn't stop himself from looking up and seeking out his lovers. Aaron was near the other end of the couch, leaning against the table there. Across from him, in the four seats around a table, sat Emily, Morgan, Dave and Ashley. When he looked to Morgan, the dark man looked up n enough time to catch his eye. Though the look was short, it was enough of a reassurance.

Suddenly, Dave's voice broke into the quiet. "You guys see why this case was brought to us. A favor was called in and the Director asked specifically that we get on the jet and take care of this. Apparently he owes the police chief in…" Pausing, Dave looked at his files. Spencer couldn't resist supplying the answer. "Portland, Oregon."

Dave gave him a look of slight amusement. "Yeah, what he said." He joked, making the others smile. Confusion had Spencer wrinkling his brow. What was amusing? He'd simply supplied a fact that Dave hadn't remembered. He brushed it off as inconsequential. There were plenty of instances of 'humor' that he never quite understood; this was one of them.

"So we've got fourteen bodies and two missing." Emily read off from her papers.

With a flip through his file, Aaron summed the case up in short terms for them. "It looks like it started five days ago. There was an explosion at a small club in Portland that killed seven people and injured five. Best as they've been able to figure, that explosion was where this couple went missing. Xavier Dawson and Howie Jonas." He put pictures of the first two men on the table in front of the others. "Last night, there was another club, another explosion. Xavier and Howie had just been reported missing yesterday, but their bodies were found at the new explosion site, showing obvious signs of trauma that wasn't consistent with the blast. Two new men are missing now. Alec Nelson and Matthew Musgraves."

"That's quite an elaborate setup just to kidnap two men." Ashley said as she looked at the pictures.

Emily turned the pictures of Xavier and Howie towards her. "The couples are most likely the main target, but the Unsub will enjoy taking out any of the others that he can. It's pretty apparent that he has a problem with homosexuality."

"But is it against just being gay, or is it personal? Have these couples done something to offend him personally?" Dave asked.

"The level of obvious aggression in the torture suggests this is very personal for him." Looking at the ME reports, Spencer didn't pay attention to any of the looks he got. "But that doesn't mean that he knows them personally. It could be the homosexual aspect that's personal for him."

"Lashing out at them because of problems inside of himself with being gay?" Ashley asked with an eyebrow raised.

Spencer turned the pages in his folder, looking at the photos of the torture. It made his stomach roll to see it, but he forced himself to focus on the facts of it, trying to keep his emotion out of it. To help with that, he started to talk, barely realizing how he was rambling. "19.3 percent of hate crimes across the United States were motivated by a sexual orientation bias. The FBI's national hate crime statistics found that LGBT people were far more likely than any other minority group in the United States to be victimized by violent hate crime."

"LGBT?" Someone spoke up. Vaguely Spencer thought it was Emily's voice. He wasn't too sure, but he answered automatically. "LGBT is an initialism that refers to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community. In use since the 1990s, the term LGBT is an adaptation of the initialism LGB, which itself started replacing the phrase gay community beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s." He tipped his head to the side. "It looks like all of our victims weren't shy about being a part of that community, either. They're all openly homosexual."

"Get Garcia, would you?" Aaron asked to the table in general. Emily leaned forward, hitting a few keys on the laptop. Then Garcia's face appeared on the screen, smiling at them. "What can I do for my honored friends this fine day?"

Aaron smothered a smile. "Can you get the security footage for the two clubs on the night of the explosion, Garcia?"

"Easy as pie, Sir."

"Good. I need those so that we can review them and see if there's anyone suspicious. I also need backgrounds on both these couples; we need to see if they're connected in any way at all. Anything aside from their sexual status that makes them similar so we can try and narrow down a type for this Unsub." He looked to the rest of the team. "I want to hit the ground running on this one. Prentiss, Seaver, I want you two to go to the most recent bombing site and see what you can gather from there. Morgan, Reid, I want you two to hit the first site. Dave and I can go to the station and start victimology. If the Unsub stays to pattern, there's a good chance there'll be another bombing tomorrow night and a new set of victims. We need to gather as much as we can with the time we have. When you get back from the first crime scene, I want you to start a geographical profile, Reid. I know we don't have much data, but see if you can work with what you've got."

Whatever Aaron said next, Spencer had to admit that he zoned out. His mind was racing over the facts in front of him, logging away what he read and the images he saw. Until they solved this, this material was the most important so far. Each new bit of information he would log away and add to the puzzle until he finally found a way to fit all the pieces together.

Done with his folders—for now. It never hurt to keep them around as reference—Spencer finally looked up. He thought to himself that he had interesting timing because, right as he looked up, Garcia asked "Sir, I know it's none of my business and feel totally free to tell me to butt out, but is everything ok? I worry when three of my family is brought in by Strauss the Grouse. You don't have to tell me what it was, just tell me that everyone's ok."

All eyes went first to Aaron, then to Morgan and finally over to Spencer. That kind of scrutiny had Spencer shifting a little and fiddling with the folder on his lap. Sure, they'd said in the office that they needed to talk about what to do. And Aaron was right; if Ashley was the one to have told, then the only two left to find out were Emily and Garcia. Was it really fair to leave them out of the loop? Particularly now that Strauss was going to be looming over their shoulders? Spencer looked up once more, watching Morgan and Aaron exchange a look. In that look, he saw they agreed. Their eyes turned to him for a flash and he smothered a sigh, giving them a brief nod. This was going to be interesting.

The Unit Chief put on a slightly serious expression as he looked back at the table. "Actually, that's something that we wanted to discuss with the group of you. But, there are a couple different aspects to it. First, well…" Instead of speaking, Aaron held out a hand in Morgan's direction. Spencer deliberately stayed on his corner of the couch, watching facial expressions as Morgan slipped from his seat, rose, and placed his hand right in Aaron's, allowing Aaron to bring him to his side. There Morgan leaned with him, their hands still linked.

Garcia started squealing before anyone could say anything or do anything else. "Oh, oh! I can't believe it! How long have you two been keeping this a secret from me? _How_ did you keep this from me? Derek Morgan, you are in so much trouble when you get home!"

The surprise on Emily's face seemed genuine. Garcia, as always, was up front and honest about her emotions. That left one person. Spencer looked over to Ashley and couldn't help but notice the way she kept looking from them to him and back again. She knew. She knew the truth. _Which means the probability of it being her that told on us is even higher. I suppose someone could have seen us in public, though we rarely ever go out as a group and, when we do, we tend to hit only 'our' bar where everyone knows us by first name and wouldn't think of telling someone on us. I just can't believe she believes so strongly in the rules that she actually reported us! Or…did Derek have part of it right? Does part of this come from dislike of us? Of me?_

He was pulled from his thoughts by the warm sounds of Morgan's laughter. "Calm down, baby girl. And Prentiss, prepare to mute that, because the scream she's gonna let out in a minute is gonna be _loud_." He said teasingly. Then came the final moment of truth. Aaron and Morgan both turned to Spencer, smiling at him in that familiar way that always made Spencer's heart soar. "Come here, baby boy." Morgan said.

For a second Spencer debated arguing with him, just for fun. He quickly squashed that idea, though. Right now was not the time for games. Right now they were making an important announcement and taking care of business. Arguing with Morgan wasn't going to help matters along any. So, blushing so hard he _felt_ the heat in his cheeks, Spencer stood up, leaving his files on the couch, and moved to join his two lovers. As was typical, they moved a little to either side, making room for him between them. Their hands separated to wrap around him. But they moved their other hands to the front, taking one each of Spencer's hands.

Emily managed to hit the mute in just enough time. They watched as Garcia screamed and bounced just a little in her chair. Ashley had a mask up over her face and a fake smile there that made Spencer slightly uncomfortable. Dave was leaning back in his seat, observing the reactions around him, smiling. Emily looked stunned but amused all at once. She was the first one to speak. "So all of us were half right." She joked while unmuting the laptop. "We all assumed it was Morgan and Reid."

"We knew that." Morgan told her. "Actually, we let everyone think that because it made it easier for Hotch here."

"Wait…you still call him Hotch?" Garcia interrupted.

For this moment, their boss disappeared and Aaron came to the front. "No, Garcia, they don't. But we're on work hours right now and we've set rules with one another for work hours."

Garcia wasn't done with them. "But, a three person couple! How does that work for you? How do you decide where to stay at? Heck, I've got a hard enough time in a two person, let alone a three person! And the three of you are so _different_."

As she spoke, Morgan nodded. "We are, but in our differences we find a way to complement one another. Somehow we just kind of mesh perfectly together, you know? It just, it works for us. We're all happy." He looked at the other two, taking their smiles as confirmation and smiling back at them in return.

It was, naturally, Ashley who drew attention to Spencer's embarrassment at this. "You don't look too comfortable with this, Reid." She pointed out. Of course, that drew everyone's eyes to him, making his blush deepen even more. Before Morgan could snap out something, Aaron was the one to speak up, annoyance on his face. "Reid's never done extremely well in front of people or when it comes to talking about his personal life. We're all used to that."

"But way to point it out." Morgan muttered. He jumped a little when Spencer pinched his hand.

Wreathed in smiles, Garcia called out "I think it's cute, Reid, so don't you worry! You're like, in the middle of a hunk sandwich there, baby doll. I'm a little jealous!"

"I'm always in the middle." But Spencer smiled as he said the words. He tried to fight past his embarrassment so he could keep a level head; he had a feeling neither of his partners was going to be that calm or collected with the next part of things. So he took it upon himself to explain that part. "As you've probably guessed, Strauss found out about our relationship. That was what the meeting pertained to. As of right now, we're on a sort of probationary period, during which we must prove that we can handle both the relationship and the job without them interfering with one another."

Morgan scowled at the room in general for a moment. "We almost lost our jobs or were transferred out of the unit. She wasn't sure if she was willing to risk putting her ass on the line for us if something went wrong. Fortunately, Reid fast talked and convinced her to keep us together." He stopped as if suddenly remembering something. Furrowing his brows, Morgan turned and looked at his young lover. "I almost forgot. Have you really been talked to by all those places?"

It took Spencer a second to realize what it was that Morgan was talking about. Then he remembered. "Oh!" Embarrassed all over again, he looked at the people around him, wishing Morgan had at least waited until they were somewhere more private to discuss this. But even Aaron was watching him now, waiting for an answer. So, red in the face, Spencer looked down and mumbled "Yeah."

"Really?" Aaron asked with surprise. Then his face smoothed out slightly. "I shouldn't be surprised."

Someone must have given Aaron a look—Spencer was still too busy staring down at his lap to notice who was looking at who—because suddenly Aaron started to explain what they were talking about. "Apparently Reid's been approached by different agencies with job offers and requests for consultation work."

"You do consults?" This question came from Dave, drawing Spencer's eyes up once more. He tried to push his embarrassment down once more; they weren't going to let this go. "Yes, I do."

"Where to?"

"A few places, Sir. I've done consults for CIA, DEA, INR, NSA, and OICI, to name a few."

Dave's eyebrows shot up and Emily let out a low whistle. "Wow, Reid."

From the computer came Garcia's voice. She'd been quiet long enough that they'd almost forgotten she was there. "Yeah, yeah. Genius boy is acting like a genius. Wow, that's amazing." She rambled out sarcastically, with a big wink for Spencer that made him shake his head and smile. "What I want to know is who on earth went and tattled to big and mean?"

But before any answer could be given, the pilot gave the warning that it was time to prepare for landing. Silently, Spencer took his seat, his mind already switching back over to the case. The rest of it they would handle together, once they could talk about it. For now, he needed to focus on the case. Yet, as the plane started its descent and Spencer stared out the window, thinking of case files, he found himself smiling. They were on the start of a horrible case and yet, he and the men he loved had finally been able to come out to their team, their friends. That left a happy feeling inside that even thoughts of the case couldn't make disappear.

* * *

**AN So sorry for taking so long! Ah, I am so sorry. Honestly, I stopped writing this for a bit because I didn't know where it was going to go. Total writer's block. But, after discussing it with the one I'm writing this for, I do believe I have an idea on where I want to take this. Ironically, I had most of this chapter written before her and I decided what to do with the story. Woot. Hope you liked this chap (it was longer than normal because I wanted to give you more since it took me so long to write) and oh, if tries to get rid of me for the little hint of smut, well, I'm going to post this on my personal site and I'll put the link up on my profile in a few days. :) Plz, R&R!**


	12. Chapter 12

**I'm so sorry! I'm getting really, really horrible at updating this story. Sigh. It's just that this chapter is mostly case information and I get nervous about writing the case part of things. As anyone who writes CM knows, the case is like, the hardest part. :/ Profiling is not easy! But, I think I did an ok job. At least, I hope so. Next chapter, I'm aiming to have up in no more than three days. That is my goal. I'm going to start setting myself goals to try and make myself write this story a little faster. It's just a matter of organizing what I want for each chapter lol. Any ideas of what you guys would like to see, feel free to let me know! I'm always open to your ideas and suggestions! :) Again, I'm sorry about the spotty updates, people! Hopefully you enjoy this chapter, even if it is mostly about the case.**

* * *

******If it told you that there were two updates (12 and 13) I just had to fix something on 12, so it wasn't technically an update. Sorry if it excited any of you!**

* * *

As Aaron had said, the team had hit the ground running. Each one had went to their assigned places to gather what they could and report back to the station. Dave and Aaron went straight to the station to check in and get situated before starting on victimology. It didn't surprise Aaron on the car ride to the station that Dave brought up the meeting with Strauss. He'd been expecting his friend to do that. "So, we've got a rat?"

Aaron chuckled at Dave's choice of words. But the topic soon sobered him back up. "Apparently we do. Someone tipped Strauss off about my relationship. According to her, the 'source' she got this from claims that they heard it from my own lips."

"Hey now, I didn't say anything." Dave held his hands up in a gesture of innocence that was offset by his grin.

Stopping at a light, Aaron turned to lift an eyebrow at Dave, making the older man snicker. "You, run to her? Anyone who believes that is a fool. People run to her with stories about you, not you about other people."

That little pot shot was enough to have Dave full on laughing. There was absolutely no shame in him at all. "I've been good since I've come back." He defended himself. "And that's completely off topic, Aaron, but nice try. If they say they heard it from your lips, well, have you guys discussed your relationship anywhere you might be overheard?"

"Not that I recall. Just on the jet with you. I thought everyone was asleep then, but there's a possibility that someone was awake. Prentiss or Seaver could have heard us talking."

Surprised, Dave turned to look at him even as they were pulling into the station parking lot. "Do you really think either of them would do something like this to the three of you?"

For a moment Aaron stayed silent. He parked the car quietly, reaching up and shutting off the engine. Then he simply sat for a second. Finally he looked up, his expression serious. "The three of us? No. No, I don't. I don't see Prentiss telling anyone at all. To her, it's too much of a political minefield and there's nothing she hates more than politics. Seaver and I have had no problems recently, but her problems with Spencer, well…we know about those. But Spencer suggested that Seaver might have told on us simply because she's a black and white, by the book kind of agent."

It was Dave who went silent this time. He sat back in his seat to process what Aaron had just told him. After a moment he shook his head. "I'm not sure what I think about that yet. But I'll keep an eye out and try to see what I can. For now, let's just be grateful you three aren't in any kind of trouble and let's focus on this case. Once it's over, I promise, I'll help you get to the bottom of this, Aaron. We need to know who would tattle on any of us like that. We can't work as a team if we can't trust one another."

"Thanks, Dave."

The serious look vanished from Dave's face and he was grinning at him. "What're friends for?"

* * *

Morgan and Spencer were the first two to return to the station. While Spencer moved straight to the loose map on the table, Morgan went to where Aaron and Dave were sitting with the local lead on the case, a detective Ryan, and looking over victim information. "There wasn't much to be found at the first site." He told the two senior agents. "They showed us where the bomb had been placed. From where he set the bomb, I'd say the Unsub's goal was more as a scare tactic than to maximize his damage."

Ryan looked up at Morgan with a raised eyebrow. "Seven died and five were injured." He pointed out. "How is that just a scare tactic?"

From where he was bent over the map, Spencer called out "Including all employees, there was a total of two hundred and six people at the club that night. The fact that only seven died and only five were injured is surprising."

"Exactly." Morgan agreed with a look in Spencer's direction. "So we took a look at where the bomb was placed to see if the low body count was deliberate, or if it was caused by a miscalculation on the Unsub's part. But, look at this." He walked over to one of the boards where photos of the first crime scene were hanging. One of his hands came up to tap at a point on one of the pictures of the interior of the club. "The bomb was placed over here by the side hallway, near the bathrooms. Now, that guaranteed that some people would be hit and it also allowed the Unsub easy access to the side door as an exit. But, in a club like this, if you were going for impact, wouldn't you pick somewhere different? The bar? A table? Leave a bag on the dance floor with the bomb inside? Instead he picked a hallway to the bathrooms."

Dave leaned back in his chair, twirling a pen around his fingers. "So the bomb is more to scare people. Maybe throw them off while he does what he needs to. In that kind of chaos, who's going to see him taking two men out of the club?"

"It also has the added benefit of injuring more people involved in this lifestyle." Aaron added in. "He can't stand seeing them without trying to do some kind of harm."

"The size of the explosion might also be an indicator of our Unsub's location during the blast." Spencer said. His fingers were moving over the map, tracing lines and images that only he understood at the moment. He didn't even lift his eyes as he spoke. "The size of the club is rather small and his exits are limited. If he's using the explosions as a cover, then he has to make sure that he maintains his own safety. He can't have an explosion so big that it injures either himself or his prospective targets."

Ryan looked back and forth between them all. "So why doesn't he pick a bigger club and use a bigger bomb if he really wants to cause lots of damage? There are a few bigger clubs than the ones he's hit."

Moving back to the table, Morgan shrugged while taking a seat. "It could be a few different reasons. He could lack the confidence to be in a crowd as large as some of the bigger clubs can bring in. Or he could have problems being around that many people at once."

"He might also have a personal connection to the places that he's chosen." Aaron said. "Which could give us a clue to who he is."

Before Ryan could say anything else, the door to the conference room opened and Emily and Ashley came walking in. Because he was looking, Aaron caught the slight tensing of Spencer's body when Ashley and Emily walked past him. He also saw the way Spencer studiously refused to look up. Morgan, on the other hand, visibly tightened when Ashley stopped near his chair to look down at what they were doing. Until things got figured out, there were going to be problems. He was going to have to make sure he paired them up correctly to avoid as much tension as possible.

"Was there anything important at the crime scene?" Dave was asking the girls. His question drew Aaron back out of his thoughts.

Emily took one of the other open chairs and rested her arms on the table. "We didn't find much, but we did notice that the bomb was placed in an odd location. A bathroom hallway." She said.

The others exchanged a quick look. "It was the same where we went." Morgan told her. "We were speculating on the reasons why he picked a place with the least amount of casualties." He shifted his seat, angling ever so slightly away from Ashley in a move that no one but a profiler would have noticed. "Is there any obvious connection between our victims yet?"

Dave was the one to field that question. "They all seem to fit the same physical type. All of them were brunettes. In each couple so far, one was taller than the other, but all of them had lean frames. They don't look like the athletic types. Beyond physical appearance, we haven't found any connections between them. Garcia hasn't called to let us know of any connections she's found yet, either."

Noticing Ryan's curious look, Aaron took a moment to make introductions. "My apologies, Detective Ryan. We all tend to get a bit wrapped up in the case." Raising a hand, he gestured from person to person as he listed their names. "These are agents Morgan, Prentiss, Seaver and that's Dr. Reid. They're the rest of my team." They all stretched to shake his hand as they were introduced, except for Spencer. He half looked up, waving slightly and then dropping his gaze back to the map.

Now that introductions were done, Aaron set them all back to work. "Prentiss, Morgan, why don't you two head to the home of our two missing victims and see what you can find there. Talk to their neighbors, find out if there's been anything strange going on around there lately." Aaron looked at the two as he spoke, his mind trying to think of how he wanted to divide this. Dave cut in before Aaron could assign anything else, saying "Seaver and I can go to the hospital and speak with the survivors of the recent blast." His look also let Aaron know that he wanted to have a moment to talk with Ashley.

Would they manage to get through this case without their personal life bleeding through? Aaron resisted the urge to sigh. Until things settled, until they figured out what to do to fix the dynamic amongst the team members, personal things were going to bleed into their work. He needed to figure out something and fast or else it could end up affecting their case and that was not something Aaron was willing to let happen. "Good. Detective?" He turned to Ryan now. "Do you think you could have someone call and request that the other survivors, the ones that were already released, come in so I can speak with them? I understand they've already been interviewed, but there are a few things I'd like to ask them."

"No problem. I'll get right on that." Ryan said. He rose and made his way out of the room. The others slowly dispersed as well, gathering keys and coats and making their way out of the station. For the moment, that left Aaron and Spencer alone in the conference room. There were too many people who could see them for Aaron to touch his younger lover the way that he wanted, but he did walk over and lean over the map with him for just a moment, casually looking down as Spencer put little stickers to mark different points. "How're you doing, Spencer? Are you ok?" he murmured in a low voice.

The young doctor looked up with surprise. "Of course."

"I understand this case is going to be a tough one. If at any point you feel the need to step back, please, don't be afraid to let me know. And I'm saying this as your boss, Reid." He made sure his look was stern so that Spencer would understand that he was serious about this. "I'm going to explain the same thing to Morgan."

"Hopefully you've already explained it to yourself." Spencer countered. After quickly scanning the room to make sure they were alone, he raised an eyebrow and murmured back "You're just as susceptible to identifying with the victim as we are, Aaron. I don't want you pushing yourself with this one. If you need to step back, please, don't think that you can't just because you're the boss."

The unit chief straightened, smothering the smile that wanted to come to the surface. It never failed to amuse him, how much of a caretaker Spencer was to every single person he cared about and how horrible he could be at taking care of himself with the same quality as he did others. He couldn't help the warm feeling that came from having someone try to care for him, though. "I will." He answered.

"Mmhm." Humor suddenly lit Spencer's eyes. It gave him a slightly mischievous look that he quickly hid when he grabbed a few pens off the table and bent back over the map. He cast one last look up as he teased "I'm going to need to keep my eye on the two of you. Stubborn old men, the both of you."

Aaron worked hard to keep his expression neutral. "Did you say something, Reid?" he asked in a normal voice.

Imp that he was, Spencer looked up with such an innocent expression that anyone who _didn't_ know him would have been fooled. "No, Sir. Nothing at all."

Before Aaron could say anything else, his cell phone rang in his pocket. He shook his head as he pulled the phone from his pocket. "Saved by the bell." He murmured. Then he was flipping the phone open and bringing it to his ear, slipping back into Boss-mode. "Hotchner."


	13. Chapter 13

**If it told you that there were two updates (12 and 13) I just had to fix something on 12, so it wasn't technically an update. Sorry if it excited any of you!**

* * *

It wasn't until they were heading back to the police station that Dave finally set about starting the conversation with Ashley that he wanted to have. Typically, this wasn't a type of conversation that he would have while on a case but there were extenuating circumstances in this situation. If the team wanted to be able to work as a team, some things were going to have to be brought to light and some were going to have to change. He had a thirty minute drive ahead of him—now was the perfect time to broach this topic. Or, topics. But he'd start with the one he'd originally intended on having with her.

"You know, I've wanted to speak with you about something, Ashley." Dave said casually as he took them from the hospital parking lot and out onto the street. He didn't even glance over at her, but kept speaking. "I'd hoped you'd come and speak to me if you if you were having problems within the team."

If he hadn't known better, and if he wasn't such a good profiler, he might have thought her surprise was genuine. "I'm don't understand, Sir. I haven't been having any problems."

After changing lanes, Dave slanted a look toward her, one eyebrow quirked. "Really? So you're telling me that there's no tension between you and Dr. Reid? That you're perfectly comfortable with working with him?"

"There's no tension between us. As for working with him, I've seen no problems. We all do our job." She maintained her innocent voice as she sat there and lied to him.

Her insistence on denying things had Dave changing his strategy. Instead of going at this gently, he decided to be a little blunter. "You're trying to lie to an experienced profiler, Ashley. We've all noticed it. Especially on the last case when you two came back from the hospital and neither one of you looked pleased. What's going on between the two of you?"

"It's nothing that will adversely affect my work." Ashley was quick to try and reassure him.

It was more than Dave could resist to snort at that. "Won't it? I believe it has already. Aaron has to make accommodations for the two of you so that you're not paired together, or have you not noticed that? This is already affecting both your work. That's why I'm speaking to you about it, Ashley. Otherwise this would have just been left alone to be worked out between the two of you." He switched lanes, speeding around a semi before darting back over to take his exit. "Now, as your superior, I'm asking you; what is your problem with Dr. Reid?"

The car was quiet for a few minutes after his question. Dave let it ride, able to see on her face that she wasn't ignoring him, but simply gathering her thoughts. He gave her the time she needed to do that. Finally, her head turned slightly to stare out the window, she started to answer him. "It's not Dr. Reid himself that really bothers me. Yes, he annoys me. I won't deny that. He annoys quite a few people with his rambling and statistics and with the way he seems to think he's better than those around him simply because he's smarter."

Surprise had Dave's eyebrows going up toward his hairline. Spencer, thinking he was better than other people? Neither arrogance nor conceit was something that Dave would have ever labeled Spencer with. He was one of the people with the least conceit that Dave had ever met. But he said nothing, simply letting Ashley talk at her own pace.

"What bothers me is more the amount of flak I'm taking for being bumped onto this team so early, yet no one seems to have a problem with him being on the team. Yet, he failed almost everything that wasn't knowledge related at the academy. Even he says they ultimately had to make exceptions for him to enter the field. And I'm supposed to be ok with him having my back out there? He's a good person, Sir, and would be a wonderful agent. But not a field agent."

Her impassioned speech left Dave stunned. When he stopped at a light, he turned his head to look at her. "Is that why you told Strauss about the relationship he's in? Because you're jealous of him as an agent, you had to try to destroy his career?"

Ashley's eyes seemed to spark. "I didn't tell on him because I'm jealous of him in any way!" she declared hotly.

Anger settled in Dave. His hands tightened on the wheel, gripping it as he started forward, the light having turned green. "So you admit you're the one that reported them to Strauss."

She was stunned for a long moment, realizing what he had done. "You tricked me."

"I did." He didn't care to even deny it. Right then his anger was too strong. "And now that you've said your piece, I'm going to say mine. And you will listen, Ashley. Or I'll be pulling over and you can _walk_ back to the station."

Wisely she kept quiet. When he was sure she would stay that way, he continued. "First and foremost, I'll admit that even I had that impression of Reid when I first started. A scrawny, nerdy genius out in the field? I was sure he'd get himself or someone else killed. Unlike you, I didn't shy away from him, but instead I tried to watch him a little too closely. In watching, do you know what I discovered?"

He paused, taking his corner and putting them down the street they needed. About then was when he realized they were only minutes away from the station. Well, he was going to finish saying what he wanted to say.

"I discovered that there's a lot more to Reid than what we see." Dave said softly. "Yes, they made exceptions for him to enter the field. Yes, he's not the top of his class physically. But he's come a long way since the academy. He's a damn good shot. Maybe he can't wrestle down Unsubs or kick down doors like Morgan, but he can outrace most of them with those long legs, and he can talk an Unsub down from situations that most wouldn't be able to. He's a fantastic profiler and an invaluable asset of this team. And that's just professionally."

Pulling into the police station, Dave stayed quiet as he made his way to a parking spot. But once he was parked, he didn't turn the car off. Instead, he turned to Ashley, letting her know he wasn't done yet. She didn't look at him; instead, she stared down at her hands, which were folded in her lap.

Dave tried to remind himself that this girl was young. He couldn't shout at her as he wanted to. But that didn't mean he couldn't finish verbally putting her in her place. "You want to be a profiler, yet you can't even look beyond the surface with him. On the outside, Reid looks weak. Yes. He looks like he could be taken down with one punch. But he's been through a hell of a lot more than you'll ever understand and yet somehow, he's still standing. You lived through hell with the things that your dad did. But he did those things to other women, not to you. Do you think you could live the life Reid's lived?"

"Excuse me?" Unable to keep silent anymore, her head shot up, anger on her face.

He didn't give her a chance to say anything. "You think he's physically nothing. A liability on the field. Yet he could take more than you ever could. He spent almost every day of his childhood being beaten for being smart. The kid graduated high school at _twelve_, Ashley. You think high school kids were kind to a twelve year old genius? Then there was whatever happened to him at college. He doesn't openly discuss any of that. Then, since joining the bureau, he's been kidnapped, tortured, exposed to anthrax, held hostage more than once, shot…and you think he's too weak to do this job? He's a greater agent than you known—and, if you don't change this attitude of yours, you'll never manage to be half the agent he is."

Reaching out, Dave turned the key, shutting the car off. He pulled the keys out before undoing his seatbelt. Then he waited until her seatbelt was undone before he told her the last thing on his mind. "As for reporting them, I've just got one thing to say, Ashley."

Hesitantly, she turned to look at him, one hand poised on the door. "What?"

Dave made sure their eyes locked so that she could see exactly how serious he was. "You better start thinking about where to go when we get back, because I guarantee I won't allow Erin to build a little spy in this team. I could almost tolerate your bad attitude toward Reid and leave it be like he wanted us to, so long as it didn't mess with the job and didn't hurt him too badly. But your antics could have lost us three damn good agents. Agents who are better than you'll ever be. That, I won't tolerate. Aaron won't say this to you—he's too good a Unit Chief. But I don't have that problem. You're a selfish woman and you sure as hell don't belong on this team."

That said, Dave climbed from the car, anger slowly draining away now that he'd said what he wanted. He didn't even look her direction as he made his way into the station.

* * *

That night, when it had become too late to do anymore work, the team headed to the hotel. As usual, Aaron had booked their rooms a specific way. This time he set Ashley and Emily across the hall from one another, down at the end. Beside Ashley was Dave and beside Emily was Morgan. Then, by Dave's room was Reid and by Morgan's room was Aaron. However, with the team knowing about them, two of those rooms looked like they'd remain empty. Emily was the one to comment on it, grinning at them as they stepped off the elevator. She looked at the keys Morgan, Reid and Aaron held and teased them "Are you really trying to tell me you'll all sleep in separate rooms? Come on, now."

Morgan let out his deep laugh, echoed by Dave and Aaron both. Spencer grinned, but blush heated his cheeks. None of them paid any attention to Ashley, who quietly slipped down to her room and went inside.

"We've still got to keep up appearances to the Bureau." Morgan pointed out to her.

Emily couldn't argue that point. "Ok, you've got me there. Which room should we hunt you down in?" Her eyes were twinkling with her good humor.

It made the three men grin to see how understanding their friends were being. At least, the friends that mattered. To know that they were going to be accepted and weren't going to be judged for what they'd found. It was a heady sensation that left them smiling; even Aaron wore a small smile. "They'll be in my room. It's technically the furthest away from everyone."

"And we bless you for that." Dave taunted. He winked at them and shifted his bag in his hand. "Now, if you young bucks don't mind, this man is going down to his room to pour himself a drink and stretch out for a few hours of sleep."

"Sounds like a good plan to me." Emily agreed with him.

This time it was Dave's eyes that were lit with humor. He looked at Emily and gave her a sly grin. "Why Prentiss, I didn't know you were interested."

The threesome laughed as they made their way toward Aaron's room, listening to Emily both laughing and protesting behind them. Aaron pulled out his key, chuckling while opening the door. He was still chuckling once he was in and had tossed his bag on the floor.

Spencer was the last one in, shutting the door behind him. He set his go-bag and his messenger bag on the dresser across from the bed and then stretched. "I'm claiming first shower." He announced as he grabbed his toiletries bag from his go-bag. Aaron looked up, quickly calling "Second." Before Morgan could. The dark skinned man grumbled, but shrugged at them. "Fine. I'll take third. Be that way." He shot at them. They had a claiming system set up on showers while traveling, if they didn't decide to shower in their own rooms first and meet back up in Aaron's as they occasionally did.

While Spencer made his way into the bathroom, leaving the door cracked open, Aaron pulled out his shirts and hung them in the small closet on the far side of the room. As he stuck them on the hangers, he noticed something and scowled. "Dammit."

Morgan didn't even look up from his bag where he was digging out clothes to lay on the dresser for the next day. "You wrinkled your shirts, didn't you?" he called out.

"Yes." Aaron glared at the few shirts, annoyed. He'd been so careful folding them. How the hell had they ended up wrinkled?

With a loud sigh, Morgan straightened up, putting his clothing choices on the top of his bag so he'd see them in the morning. Then he made his way over to Aaron. "Is there ironing stuff in there?" he asked with another sigh. Aaron's answer was to pull out the ironing board and iron from the closet. He handed them over to Morgan, kissing him as he did. "Thank you, Derek."

"Yeah, yeah." But Morgan was smiling as he said it. He took the ironing board and set it up in the empty space in the room. Then he set the iron on it and plugged it in to start warming up. "I still don't get how the hell you've been wearing suits this long and you still can't manage to iron to save your life."

"Hayley always ironed for me. Then, after her, I was just very careful."

Morgan brought one shirt over and spread it out on the board. "Until I came along to iron for you."

"Yep." Aaron moved toward him and stole another kiss. "Thank you."

The room was quiet for a bit as Morgan started to iron Aaron's shirts and Aaron settled down on the bed with a few of the case files. The only noise in the room was from the running shower. After a bit, that was shut off, and they could hear as Spencer moved around in the bathroom. He emerged a moment later, towel wrapped around his waist. His two lovers looked up, watching him as he walked to his go-bag, the towel slung low enough that one of his hips was sticking out on one side.

Aaron put down the file in his hand, a smile starting to grow on his lips. But before he could move from the bed, his cell phone rang. He let out a loud sigh even as he grabbed it and lifted it. Spencer turned, looking at him quizzically, wondering why he'd been sighing. While Aaron answered his phone with "Hotchner.", Spencer looked over to Morgan, hoping he'd explain. Morgan just grinned at him.

It was forgotten a moment later when Aaron rose form the bed, asking "Where?" in a voice they knew all too well. That was work on the phone. Morgan immediately moved to unplug the iron, taking it in to rest on the bathroom counter so it could safely cool. Spencer was grabbing clothes, wasting no time in dressing himself.

"Uh huh." Aaron was saying into the phone. "Yes. I'll gather my team and we'll be there shortly. Yes, thank you, Detective."

He pressed the button on the phone to end the call and then dialed Dave's number. His friend came on the line a second later. "We've got another bombing." Aaron said without preamble. His hands moved as he spoke, tightening the tie he'd loosened and smoothing out his shirt. "Can you alert the other two? We're meeting downstairs in five minutes to head directly to the crime scene. Thanks, Dave. Ok, we'll see you then."

Ending the call, Aaron put the phone in his pocket and grabbed his suit jacket. Even as he slung that on, he was turning to look to his lovers only to find that they were already dressed and ready to go. With a flash of a smile, all that he could muster in that moment, Aaron nodded at them. "Let's go."


	14. Chapter 14

**AN—I know, it's short I'm sorry! It also took forever. Again, sorry! Blame the heat around here. Triple digit heat is not helpful to writing :/ next chapter will be out faster (within three days) and it will be longer than this one :P Promise!**

* * *

Shivering, Spencer stuffed his hands into his pockets and ducked his head down to try and stave off the chill. He cast a glance toward the dark sky; the impending rain could almost be _felt_ in the air. "Let's hope we get this done before the rain hits." He murmured to Morgan as they made their way from the SUV over toward the crime scene. Just ahead stood the club 'Powerhouse' where their latest bombing had occurred.

The older man flashed him a quick grin as they stepped past the officers standing guard at the front door. Once inside they grabbed their gloves from the box at the door and then they separated, going to the areas they'd be of the most use. Morgan headed toward the officers that were standing near what looked to be the center of the explosion—another small one, it appeared. Spencer counted quickly on the floor and saw six bodies covered by sheets. While Morgan went to the blast area, Spencer headed to where Emily stood looking down at two bodies lying side by side. The logical assumption was that these two were the previous missing victims.

Up close, Spencer could see that he was right. What he could see of the faces matched the pictures of Alec Nelson and Matthew Musgraves that were tacked up back at the station. He could also see that there was quite an escalation in violence compared to the last couple. Just as he reached them he finished pulling his gloves on. He stepped up to Emily's side and looked down at the two bodies. "He's escalated his timetable." Emily said to him. "We thought we'd have another day."

"There's more violence this time as well." Spencer told her. Squatting, he tried to keep himself clinical as he looked at the injuries these men had suffered. "Definite rage in his actions."

"You think?" Detective Ryan had joined them and was standing now, looking down at Spencer and the two bodies. He looked a little pale as his gaze traveled over the victims. "This bastard's got a lot of rage it seems to me and he's taking it out on innocent people."

Spencer didn't even register the acidic tone with which Ryan was speaking with him. Instead his mind was focused on his job and he took the man's words as honest. "Yes, that's true, Detective. But this time there's far more aggression than there was in the previous murders. For example, the last two victims were more visibly tortured. There was obvious aggression, yes, but there was a methodical feel to it, as if our Unsub was following certain actions for certain things. But look at these two victims."

Lifting a hand, Spencer pointed to Alec's chest where cuts were visible. "See here? On our last victims, there were similar cuts, but they were more precise. These look like they were done in a rage."

"As if he lost control and lashed out." Emily said. She squatted down beside him as well, inspecting the wounds with a new eye. "What's would make him react so violently, though? Torture is usually used to gain information or to punish. What could they have done that made him react violently enough that he lost his control this way?" she murmured.

Something about the wounds seemed to pull at Spencer. "I don't think he's trying to gain information. Punish, yes, definitely. He's getting enjoyment out of this. But, ok, look at this. The first two victims were tortured, but it was with the same three injuries repeated over their bodies. Cut, burn and bruise until the final knife thrust to the heart. These two victims are the same. The same three styles of injuries over their bodies and the same knife thrust at the end." He looked at the injuries, trying to put together what it was he was thinking, not wanting to speak out of turn.

Emily turned her head to look at him. "You have a theory." It was a statement, not a question.

His eyes never left the bodies. "Not quite. More, the bones of one. I'm not quite sure yet."

The two rose and the bodies were covered once more. Together, he and Emily made their way to where Aaron and Dave were talking with other officers. When they got close, the two senior profilers stepped away from the officers to meet them. "Everyone's a bit jumpy in here tonight." Dave warned Spencer and Emily. "He should have stuck to pattern and he didn't. He's a night early."

"I'm not sure there is a specific time he needs." Spencer said slowly. He barely realized he'd spoken the words out loud.

Morgan and Ashley joined the group right as Spencer said that. Morgan was the one to ask "What do you mean, Reid?"

"What if he's not torturing them for his pleasure or out of hatred?" The information was running around Spencer's brain, trying to piece itself together.

"Then why?" Aaron asked.

Chewing on his lip, Spencer turned and looked back to where the bodies were. "What if he's trying to cure them? What I'm seeing, it reminds me of a case study twenty years ago. They took homosexuals and decided to cure them through therapy." He turned his head back toward now, spilling out his thoughts. "The subjects were sat with their 'partner' in a room, both on individual chairs, while homosexual pornography was played. If they showed signs of enjoyment, a small cut was delivered to their leg. It was to try and rewire the brain to associate those urges with pain, therefore making them 'bad'." He used his fingers to make air quotes for that. "In some aspects, this torture reminds me of that old case."

"That's disgusting." Ashley said slowly. "Who on earth would do that to someone?"

Shrugging, Spencer made his face blank as he looked at her, trying not to be nervous or annoyed with the woman. They had a job to do. "The subjects willingly volunteered for this so that they might be cured. They had an estimated 78.7% success rating, according to their data. How honest that data was, or the subjects, is up for speculation. Nor were the long term effects documented."

"So, wait." Emily cut in before he could really get going. "This guy is trying to cure them? Then the reason he was so much more aggressive this time…"

"They must have resisted." Dave finished. "They probably refused to play his game."

Crossing his arms, Aaron looked at his team before looking around the club. "Let's spread out and interview witnesses, see what we can find. Right now our first priority is to find out who our two new missing victims are. I'm going to speak with the officers and set up a tip line and then call a press conference for in a few hours. We'll see if maybe we can draw our Unsub out. But remember, we need to figure out who was taken and fast. When we get back to the station, I think we're ready to give a profile."

The group of profilers broke apart, heading toward the crowd of witnesses.

* * *

Hours later, everyone was gathered back in the police station. All interviews had been conducted, the tip line set up, the press conference had run. Now they were ready to speak with the police officers.

Stretching his arms, Spencer tacked up the two newest pictures that had just printed off. "Shamus Sage and Fredrick Gant." He named off as he hung up the two pictures. "These are the only two that aren't accounted for."

Emily stepped up beside him and looked at the crowd of police officers that were watching them. "Agent Morgan and I checked their residence and there was no sign of them, nor were there answers on their cell phones. Our technical analyst is ready to trace their call the instant their phones turn back on. For now, these are the only two we cannot find that were known to be at the club tonight. We have to assume that they're our newest victims."

"Now, there is a strong chance that these two men are alive." Aaron told the room. "It appears that our Unsub isn't setting out to murder, but rather to _cure_."

Dave leaned against a desk and spoke next. "While he does appear to get enjoyment out of the pain he's causing, that isn't his primary motivation at the moment .What motivates him is the desire, the urge, to cure these men of what he perceives as a disease."

"Now most likely our Unsub is a homosexual as well." Morgan said. He hooked his hands in his pockets and looked around the room with his steady gaze. "He's probably received some kind of similar treatment to 'cure' him of these urges and now feels the need to do the same for others."

One of the officers held up a hand, drawing their attention. "Is it actually possible for him to be cured or to cure other people?" The man asked curiously.

Spencer was the one to step forward and field this question. "Homosexuality isn't actually a disease. The American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from its list of official mental illnesses in 1973. The American Psychological Association followed suit in 1974. As for therapies, all major national mental health organizations have officially expressed apprehension about therapies promoted to alter sexual orientation. There has been no adequate research to show that therapy aimed at changing sexual orientation is safe or effective."

A phone rang at the back of the room for a moment before someone answered it. Into the silence, the same officer spoke. "But you're saying this was done to him and now he's doing it to others. Wouldn't that mean that it worked on him?"

"Torturing people in an effort to cure them and killing them when it doesn't work sounds like a nasty side effect to me." Dave said dryly.

Amidst the laughter that echoed at that, Detective Ryan suddenly spoke up, calling out to them. "Agent Hotchner! I just got word from the hospital. Ten minutes ago a man came in, looking beat up. Claims he's Fredrick Grant."

The station fell utterly silent for a short beat. Then Aaron was looking at his team "Morgan, Reid, I want you two to go over there and check this out. See if it's Fredrick and, if it is, see if you can talk to him. Detective Ryan, if this is him, we need to get a protective detail over there immediately and we'll need to be prepared to move in case there's anything he can tell us."

Morgan and Spencer wasted no time. They were already moving toward the door. Spencer grabbed their coats while Morgan got a set of keys to one of the SUV's. They met at the door and Spencer handed the jacket overs. Once they had them on, they stepped out into the pouring rain and hurried over to the SUV. If this was one of their victims…Spencer couldn't stop himself from wondering where Shamus was and what was happening to him. He prayed to God that, if this was Fredrick, he would be able to tell them something so that they might get to Shamus in time. The profiler in him knew that the instant Fredrick had gotten free, Shamus's life had become forfeit. But the man in him still found himself hoping for a different result.


	15. Chapter 15

**Out of everything I wanted to update, this was top on my list. But each time I've tried to write, I've been stuck here. Not because I don't want to write the story, but because I don't like writing cases lol I feel like I'm horrible. So if this isn't the best chapter, I'm really really sorry. But the next SHOULD come easier and hopefully faster. I can't believe I haven't updated this story in three months. I'm so horrible. Absolutely horrible. :/ Well, anyways, I hope this isn't too bad and that you enjoy it some. Thank you all for being so patient with me!**

* * *

Walking up to the nurses' station, Morgan pulled his credentials out, showing them to the woman there. "I need to see a Fredrick Grant. Could you tell me which room his is?" he asked her politely. The woman nodded and pointed down the hall to their right. "Just down that way, honey. Room 362. The only room with a security guard outside of it, just like the guys at the station requested."

"Thank you, ma'am. There'll be a protective detail arriving for him shortly." He warned her. Then he and Spencer were moving, taking off down the hallway and toward the man's room. When they got close, both showed their credentials to the guard, who nodded and let them into the room. By tact agreement, Morgan fell back slightly as they stepped into the room, allowing Spencer to take lead in front of him. In this kind of situation, Spencer had no problem using the fact that he presented a less intimidating figure than the others. It came in hand when talking to some victims. His physical appearance made him seem safer to some people and therefore easier to talk to.

Only their training kept the two from flinching when they saw Fredrick on his hospital bed. A doctor was beside him, trying to get him to lie back on the bed and get looked at, the nurse on the other side of the bed trying to help. Fredrick was resisting with everything he had. His face was scratched and bruised, as were his hands. The rest of him was covered by clothes that were caked with dirt and, in some places it looked like there was blood. Even his brown hair looked matted down to his head with dirt and something wet; blood? Rain?

"Please, someone has to go!" Fredrick was telling the doctor. "You don't understand! Someone has to go help him. Please!"

"Mr. Grant." Losing some of his usual nerves, Spencer moved straight toward the bed, his voice catching their victim's attention. "Mr. Grant, I'm Dr. Reid and this is Agent Morgan. We're with the FBI and we're here to help. But I need you to sit down and let the doctor treat you, please." He stopped right beside the bed, Morgan behind him, and gave the doctor a look to let him know to start work while Spencer and Morgan did their jobs. Then he looked back to Fredrick. "Can you tell us what happened, Mr. Grant?"

"I don't know!" The hysterical man shouted at them. "One minute Shamus and I were dancing and then something was exploding and then everything went dark. Then I'm waking up and Shamus is calling my name, yelling at me, telling me to run, and I ran. I didn't realize he wasn't with me! I thought he was running behind me." Fredrick seemed to deflate in front of them, his eyes closed. "I thought he was with me. But when the car picked me up on the side of the road, Shay wasn't there. I couldn't find him."

"Do you know where you were running at, Mr. Grant?" Spencer asked him gently.

He nodded a little, his eyes still closed. "Yeah. I was at the lake that's right by Multnomah Falls, just up 84."

Leaving Spencer to do his interview, Morgan headed out to the hallway, pulling out his cellphone as he went. Aaron picked up on the first ring. "Do you have anything?"

"Grant says he was running near a lake out by Multnomah Falls. Says he woke up to his partner telling him to run, but when he got to the road and got picked up, Shamus wasn't with him." Morgan repeated quickly.

"So there's a chance that either the Unsub still has Shamus, or Shamus is out there wandering. Good work. You two stay on him; see what else you can find out. The rest of us will gather the search teams and head out."

Just as he was hanging up his phone, Morgan heard someone call out his name. "Agent Morgan?" One of the nurses was standing down the hall, a clipboard in hand. "I think you might want to see this."

Five minutes later, Morgan was calling Aaron back to tell him to the cancel the search. He looked down at the body lying so still on the gurney and couldn't help but wince. "We've got Shamus Sage. He was brought into the hospital minutes ago. He was DOA, Hotch."

This time, when Morgan hung up his phone, he let out a gusty sigh. Now came one of the parts of the job that he hated the absolute most. He gathered his composure and started to make his way back toward Fredrick Grant's room. This was never easy. He hated having to tell someone about their loss, especially in a situation like this. When he opened the door and walked into the room, Spencer and Fredrick both looked to him. A flash over Spencer's face told him that his young partner could read the look in his eyes and knew what had happened.

Morgan steeled himself and walked over to the bed. "Mr. Grant? I'm so sorry to have to say this, but…"

* * *

A few hours later, the team was once again gathered at the police station inside of the conference room. They were scanning through their files, looking at the photos once more, adding in Fredrick's statement to the rest of their information. This case was really starting to push on all of them. Now, on top of what they were already working with, they had the worry of how soon their Unsub was going to strike again and what would happen when he did. His ritual, his 'healing', had been interrupted this time. He was going to be almost compelled to strike again and quickly. And they had nothing to go on to be able to find him before he could do so. At least…they'd _had_ nothing to go on. One phone call from their wonderful technical analyst changed everything.

When his phone rang, Morgan saw it was Garcia and he opened it, pressing the speaker button. "Tell me you've got something, baby girl."

"Would I call you if I didn't?" She quipped back. That instantly drew all eyes to the phone Morgan set on the table. "So, I accessed the cameras around Multnomah Falls, in their parking lot and such like that, trying to see if I could find anything at all. Nothing. So then, I took a moment, regrouped my thinking, and I pulled up all the old security camera footage from each of the club bombings. I got access to cameras nearby that allowed me to see the parking lots and I started trying to see if I could find any cars that appeared at each club on the night of the bombings. Any repeats, right?"

"You are brilliant, sweetheart." Morgan's voice was lit with hope.

"Of course I am." She teased him. "Anyways, I came up with two matches. While I ran that information, I also checked the cameras at the falls once more to see if either car showed up on there and I got one hit. A green Ford Explorer, registered to a one Logan M. Hill, 33 year old resident of Washougal, Washington. I pulled up his records and our boy here has been in and out of trouble with the law from a very, very young age. And, more than that, I found hospital records for when he was sixteen years old and the injuries on here are, well, horrific for one. But they match some of the injuries of our victims. I've sent his information and address to you phones."

Morgan was snatching his phone up from the table as everyone started moving. "Thank you, Garcia." He said quickly. With purpose the team began to move. They had something now. Someone to go after. And, if they were lucky, they might get to him in time to stop him before he grabbed another couple.

* * *

It took a surprisingly short time to gather the necessary manpower together. They contacted Washougal PD and, with everyone together, set out for their potential Unsub's house. Dressed in their vests, the team anxiously waited on the ride over, hoping that he would be there. Hoping they'd be in time to stop him. His property was on the outskirts of Washougal, up into the hills where properties were few and far between, almost crossing over into Skamania county. There was enough seclusion that it allowed the cops and SWAT to park quietly down the drive and head in on foot, hoping for the element of surprise.

As they approached the house, they silently split off into teams. Morgan couldn't' help but cast a quick prayer heavenward as Aaron went off with Dave and Ashley and Spencer took off with one of the local LEO's, leaving Morgan and Emily together. He prayed that his teammates would be okay, but he also prayed for the safety of his lovers, wishing he could indulge himself by keeping them with him. He just had to remind himself that they were capable agents, the both of them. They would be ok. Some went off to the right, Spencer and the cop with him going to the back of the house, while Emily, Morgan and some SWAT went to the front door. They never even got the chance to go through the front door.

The sound of multiple gunshots echoing through the air was one of the most terrifying things to hear when those that you care about are nearby, but not in sight. Morgan's heart seemed to freeze even as his body kicked into overdrive, moving toward the sound. It only took him a half a second to figure out which direction the shots had come from and to know who was over there. That was the direction Spencer had gone. _Please, God, don't let me be too late_ he prayed frantically. _Let him have shot the Unsub. Please, let him be ok!_

Emily was right behind them, the both of them moving to make the turn around the house to the backyard, automatically moving into position to cover one another. Once they rounded the corner, they saw it wasn't necessary. Their Unsub was on the ground, the bullet hole between his eyes telling them that there was no hope in saving him.

Now that he knew the coast was clear, Morgan's eyes searched for the one figure he was dying to see. When he found him, his heart skipped a beat. About fifteen feet away from the Unsub, Spencer was lying on the ground. Even in the dim light of the evening sky, the blood on his shirt sleeve was visible. Morgan cut off the strangled cry in his throat and moved quickly forward. He didn't even realize his legs had carried him to his young lover until he was on his knees beside him.

"Spencer!" He croaked out. Panic raced inside of him like a poison.

To his complete surprise, Spencer's eyes opened, his face snapping into a scowl. Seeing that angry look made relief fill Morgan. If Spencer was awake and scowling, things couldn't be too bad. _Thank you, God. Thank you_! Morgan sent the thought heavenward. On the outside, he smiled down at the boy, his eyes traveling to find the wound. "Can't you stay out of trouble for five minutes, pretty boy?" he teased him.

Spencer turned his scowl on him. "I can't believe he managed to shoot me." He muttered furiously. His right arm lifted, moving to grip at his left. Before Morgan could stay anything, Spencer was gripping his arm directly over the wound and was trying to sit up.

"Hey, hey, wait a minute now." Morgan put one of his hands on Spencer's chest to try and hold him down. "Wait for the paramedics to come see you before you get up and start moving."

"It's a flesh wound, Morgan. It just ripped across my arm. I moved when I saw him firing. Not far enough, obviously." The disgust in Spencer's tone would have been laughable at any other time. "Now this ground is damp and cold and I'd much rather be on my feet. So help me up, would you? I'm not waiting here for paramedics to arrive and then riding one of those gurneys out there for a graze."

The look Spencer wore said that he was getting up whether anyone liked it or not. Other people didn't realize exactly how stubborn Spencer could be when he put his mind to it. But his lovers did. So Morgan sighed and moved behind him, helping to brace and lift him. When they were on their feet, Spencer wavered for only a second, leaning into Morgan's grip to steady himself. He looked up, seeing Emily standing nearby, her smile relieved. She could tell that the wound wasn't life threatening. "Hey, Emily. Nice night, isn't it?" Spencer joked.

She let out a soft laugh, moving over to walk on the side of his bad arm while Morgan took up the other side, his hands still bracing Spencer upright. "Nice shot, Reid." She complimented him.

His smile came off almost like a grimace when he shifted to start walking. "If only I could shoot like that at my qualification."

"Maybe they should put you in a life or death situation for your test. It seems to be the time you do the best shooting."

Morgan grumbled a little at that. Too many times Spencer was in those kinds of situations. Sometimes he wanted to lock the young man up at home and not let him out. He seemed to attract trouble to him. Almost as if he knew what Morgan was thinking, Spencer turned his head to shoot him a glare. "Don't." he said in a low voice.

"Don't what?"

"Don't start that with me, Morgan." They stepped around the house and into the front yard. "I. Am. Fine. Quit making plans to lock me in a prison somewhere."

How accurately Spencer read him had Morgan smiling. That smile was still on his face when he lifted his eyes to seek out the rest of the team. His eyes caught Aaron's across the distance, seeing the panic that formed. He quickly shook his head and sent him a brief smile, trying to let him know without words that it was ok. It must have worked because Aaron's body seemed to relax just a little and some of the panic dissipated. Still, he met the three of them right as the ambulance pulled up. They'd had one wait down the road, just in case of emergency.

* * *

In no time at all, two paramedics hurriedly sat Spencer down on the tailgate of the ambulance so they could look at his arm. They moved his vest off first, setting it off to the side before starting to undo his shirt. They didn't notice Spencer's embarrassment at the idea of being stripped before a crowd, but his team did. Emily was closest and she grabbed a blanket out of the back of the ambulance, holding it out to be ready to put it over half of Spencer as the medics finally pulled his shirt off.

They all froze when the saw the bruising already forming on Spencer's chest. Morgan picked up the vest, seeing what he hadn't noticed before. A bullet set right below the 'I' in 'FBI'. He looked over, seeing that the others were staring there too before all their eyes went back to Spencer's chest. The kid was lucky he'd been wearing his vest. Morgan saw that knowledge in Aaron's eyes; the slight panic that echoed in both of them. Why was it always Spencer?

As the two medics set about cleaning Spencer's arm, the Unit Chief stepped forward. "What happened back there, Reid?" Everyone heard the controlled anger in his voice that loosely translated to 'Why the hell were you back there alone?' There should have been a local officer with Spencer.

"Officer Jonas and I were heading around back like we were supposed to." Spencer cut himself off, wincing slightly when they cleaned deeper in the wound. His face firmed as he tried to ignore what they were doing. "The Unsub came up behind Jonas and struck him in the back of the head. He's over there now by that ambulance." Lifting his good arm, Spencer pointed to where the other ambulance had pulled up. Sure enough, Officer Jonas was sitting on the back of it, holding an ice pack to his head. "I managed to spin around, but the Unsub had his gun out as well. I tried to get him to drop his weapon while I was moving around the tree he was by so that I could get a clear shot. He almost put the gun down when he changed his mind. I knew he wasn't going to come peacefully. He got off the first while I was trying to move and was just onto the second when I finally had a clear shot. I took it. He went down, as did I." This time when he cut off he let out a small hiss, his head turning toward where the medic was stepping back.

Looking at Spencer, the one medic shook his head. "You were awfully lucky with this shot." He told him seriously. "It's mostly superficial. I don't think it even needs stitches. We'll just wrap it up now that we've got it cleaned and you should be good to go. I assume you know how to deal with the bruising from the impact to your vest?"

"Yes." Spencer answered shortly. That alone told Morgan that Spencer was in pain. He wasn't usually curt with people unless there was something wrong with him.

"I'd recommend going in to your private physician once you're back home and having them take a look at it to make sure it's healing well. So long as no infection sets in, you should be fine. You're going to be sore tonight, though. I can give you something for the pain until you're able to get back home."

Spencer's chin went up a little and his spine firmed. "No thank you."

The medic furrowed his brows at him. "You're going to need something, sir. That arm and your chest are going to make it almost impossible for you to sleep tonight. You might end up making a midnight ER run to get something later if you don't take it now."

"I said no." His voice firm, Spencer shifted in his seat. Suddenly his eyes dropped down to the ground. "Please, just put the bandage on."

When it looked like the medic was going to argue again, Aaron raised his hand to stop him and shook his head. They knew why Spencer was refusing the medication and, though they felt he could handle it, that wasn't their choice. They knew that it had to be his choice. Only he knew what he was capable of taking and what he was _comfortable_ taking. All they could do was be there for him, as they'd done before and would do again in the future.


	16. Chapter 16

By the time the team piled on the jet to head home, Spencer was reaching the point where he wished he could brave taking a narcotic for his pain. The Ibuprofen, even being prescription strength—they were left over from his knee surgery. Aaron kept them with him for emergencies for him—just didn't seem to do the job all the way. Because of how he felt, he was a little more short-tempered than normal. So when Morgan sat down beside him on the couch and gave him that worried look, he did something he wouldn't typically do. He snapped at him. "Would you quit staring at me as if I'm about to fall over and die at any moment, Derek Morgan? The last I checked, a graze to the arm is no call for serious alarm."

Over in their seats, Dave and Emily both smothered their laughter at hearing the usually nice and calm doctor actually getting irritable at someone. Ashley simply rolled her eyes and picked up her book. Aaron, however, gave a grin that none of them had seen on him before and he sat down on the couch across from the two. Secure in the knowledge that their team now knew and that their case was officially done at the moment, the trio wasn't bothering to put on their work personas. They were relaxing around each other in a way they'd never been able to do so publically before.

"A little cranky tonight, kid?" Morgan asked, one eyebrow quirking up.

A sigh slid past Spencer's lips and he closed his eyes, letting his head rest back against the wall. "And if I am?"

"I dunno." Reaching out, Morgan tugged on a lock of Spencer's hair. "It's kinda cute."

Spencer's eyes shot open and his jaw dropped slightly. At the sound of laughter, he flushed, but his eyes were snapping with temper. "I am not a child or a puppy. I am not _cute_ when I'm mad!" He looked over to Aaron for help, only to find his lover grinning at him. "Sorry, Spencer." Aaron said with a happy little shrug. "I've got to side with Derek on this one. It's slightly cute to watch."

"Cute." Spencer repeated the word as if it were something disgusting. "Cute." His scowl grew and he rose to his feet with a shake of his head. "_Cute_." He muttered once more before going to get himself something to drink. He wasn't going to sit there and listen to them call him cute. No way, no how. If they wanted to be like that, then he was simply going to ignore them.

A snicker from Emily had the others looking at her. "Looks like you guys might want to watch out. Might be on the couch tonight." She teased them. "Or, would that be couches? With the two of you in trouble, I don't know how that would work."

Bottle of water in hand, Spencer stepped back out by the couches, his annoyance gone and confusion on his face. "Why would they be sleeping on the couch?" he asked. To irritate Morgan, the young genius deliberately sat on the other couch, beside Aaron. He looked at him and asked "What does she mean?"

"In some marriages, when a couple fights, the one that's in trouble is made to sleep out on the couch or in the guest room." Aaron explained with a little smile. He lifted his arm and smiled when Spencer immediately curled in against him. The young man winced only slightly at the shifting in movement. Then he was looking at them all again with even more confusion than before. "But why would I do that? It seems preposterous. If I was mad at one or both of you, I wouldn't punish _myself_ by making you sleep away from me."

Laughter echoed around the jet. Dave was grinning widely at them. "And on that note, I think I've reached my sharing limit for the day." He joked. To the amusement of his friends, he picked up his book and proceeded to ignore them all and read.

It didn't take long after that before Emily had her headphones on and was starting to drift toward sleep. Spencer drifted off next, secure and comfortable against Aaron's side. Morgan looked at them, his smile and eyes full of love. "Stubborn kid." He murmured. "I know he's hurting. But the last thing he's gonna wanna do is relax. Did you talk to Strauss?" Earlier, when Spencer had been busy, Aaron had told Morgan that he was going to call Strauss and try to wrangle them the weekend off, citing healing time, despite the fact that really, Spencer's injuries weren't that bad.

Aaron curled his hand up, stroking over Spencer's hair, smiling as he felt the young man burrow in a little bit more. "Barring any more cases, yes. I got Strauss to agree so that Spencer at least gets the weekend to heal a little. I told her it was in the best interest of the team to give him the next three days to rest so that he'd be capable of coming back ready to go on Monday."

"He should be feeling better by then." Morgan agreed. He looked down at the man sleeping on his lover's shoulder with a fond smile. "Even if he wasn't, he's so damn stubborn he'd still be in the office anyways."

"Just like the rest of us." Shifting, Aaron stifled a yawn, his own body starting to drift. He gave Morgan a sleepy little look. "Why don't you get over here already?" he mumbled.

That was all the invitation Morgan needed. He rose and was moving even as he teased "Bossy, aren't you?"

"You love it."

Morgan took a seat beside Aaron, steadfastly ignoring the looks he could feel Ashley giving them. Right now he wasn't going to bother with her. He sat down and stretched his legs out into the aisle, getting comfortable. "You can't prove it." He joked. The love on his face told a different story, though. The two men linked their hands, content with that connection as they gave in to their exhaustion and drifted off to sleep.

* * *

When they arrived back home, all of them were grateful that they didn't have to report to the office. Normally Aaron would have to at least stop in long enough to drop off the paperwork for this case, but Dave had taken the files from him and, in no uncertain terms, told him that he was to go home with his lovers. "I'll drop these off. I'll get in and out faster than you would, anyways." He'd said. Still, Aaron might have tried to argue with him, but Spencer and Morgan both knew a good thing when they saw it and they thanked Dave before pulling Aaron away.

Spencer rode in Aaron's car, napping most of the way to the house. When they got home, Morgan naturally arriving in his car first, the young genius stretched himself out as he climbed from the car. A wince reminded him that no, stretching wasn't exactly the best thing to do right then.

"Go on, Spencer." Aaron told him as Spencer came toward the trunk. "I got the bags."

He could tell by the look on Aaron's face that this wasn't something that was up for debate. So, with a mental sigh, he made his way toward the door where Morgan was already unlocking it. The three headed in, moving in a routine they were all familiar with. Aaron dropped their bags off by the laundry room, Morgan took all their coats and hung them up, and Spencer moved to go get their dirty clothes into the wash. That was what typically happened when they got home from a case, unless they were all extremely tired. After sleeping on the jet, Spencer knew he'd be awake long enough to do laundry. Or, at least, that had been his intention. He was stopped halfway there by Morgan. "What're you doing, baby boy?"

Spencer lifted one eyebrow at him. "Starting the laundry."

"Uh-uh. You're on relaxation detail this weekend." Morgan told him firmly. Then, before Spencer could even protest, he found himself being steered down the hall to their bedroom. He turned his head to look for Aaron, hoping for backup, but then Aaron was on his other side, pulling him along as well. They were ganging up on him!

When they let him go beside the bed, Spencer glared at them and crossed his arms over his chest, trying to hold in the wince at the ache this caused. "I am perfectly fine, you two. I don't need to head straight to bed! I just napped on the jet and in the car."

"You were just shot in the arm and had a bullet hit your Kevlar." Face serious, Aaron crossed his arms as well. "If you think for one minute that you're not going to take it easy, you've got another thing coming to you, Spencer Reid. Now, get in that bed." The expression on his face and the tone of his voice clearly said that he was not going to be moved on this.

Even though it warmed Spencer's heart to be so loved by two wonderful people, he hated the idea that he was going to come off as weaker than he already was. He knew that he was the weakest of the trio in many ways. But even when he tried to be strong today, somehow he still presented the image of someone who needed taken care of. If it had been Aaron that was in his shoes, the older man would have sat down on the couch and dared either of them to move him. Neither he nor Morgan would have allowed any serious fussing over them. They certainly wouldn't have spent the weekend relaxing in the bedroom as they were telling Spencer he was going to do.

Arguing with them would get him nowhere, he knew. Annoyance drained out of Spencer. "I'm going to shower first." He told them dully, turning to head to the master bathroom. The two were so surprised by the sudden change in Spencer's demeanor that they didn't instantly move after him. It gave Spencer time to get in the bathroom and shut the door. He stood there for just a minute, fighting back the traitorous moisture in his eyes. That really wouldn't help his image at all. It would make him seem even weaker than he already did.

He moved on autopilot, turning the shower on and stripping himself down. Once he was under the water, he didn't bother stopping the tears anymore. They would just blend in with the water.

Why was it that he could never be the strong person? He was always the one being shot at, or kidnapped, or held hostage, or tortured. If something could go wrong for him, it did. Why? Did he just look like the weakest link of the team? Anyone could see that he wasn't as fast or as strong as the others. He wasn't even as good a shot as any of them. All he had were his brains; without those, he never would have become an agent.

It hurt even more to think that his lovers thought he was weak as well. He'd deluded himself into thinking that they didn't believe that about him. That maybe, for the first time, there were people who thought he was stronger than he looked. They'd told him over and over how strong he was in their eyes. How they believed he was one of the strongest people they knew. But one gunshot wound, one bruised chest, and they were coddling him like a child. On one hand, it was sweet. On the other, he couldn't help but wonder if they really thought he was so weak that a gash in his arm and a bruise would keep him down for an entire weekend.

He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't even pay attention to the sound of the bathroom door opening. He did, however, hear the shower door slide open. Instead of turning toward them as he usually might, Spencer kept his head bowed under the stream from the showerhead, letting the water wash over his head and down his face. Right then he didn't want to turn and look at them.

They didn't let him stay like that for long. Only seconds after the shower door was shut, arms were turning him. The shower at this house had been specially built by Morgan, made large enough that they all fit inside. Spencer remembered the grin Morgan had given when he'd finished it. Right now, the younger agent wished it was small so he could have stayed alone.

Dark hands cupped his face, tipping it up. "Talk to me, Spencer." Morgan murmured. His thumbs brushed over Spencer's cheeks as if he knew that all the water there wasn't just from the shower. "What's wrong?"

Spencer closed his eyes. He didn't want to look into Morgan's eyes or over at Aaron's concerned face. He didn't want anything but to be alone for the moment. They weren't having any of that, though. Aaron stepped up to Spencer's side, hugging him sideways and kissing his cheek. "Tell us what's bothering you, Spencer." The older man murmured. "Don't shut us out. Talk to us."

"Does it really matter what I say?" The words were out of Spencer's mouth before he could think about it. He pulled away from them and moved to grab his shampoo, as if he had no other concerns but to get clean. "You certainly don't need my input for anything." Behind him he could hear the stunned silence.

Morgan was the first to recover. "What are you talking about? Of course it matters what you say!"

There was the soft sound of movement—most likely Aaron touching Morgan's arm to quiet him. He was always good at doing that—and then Aaron spoke in a soft voice. "Are you really mad at us for wanting to take care of you this weekend or is it because of this fear you have built in that needing help makes you weak?"

Instantly Spencer's hands tightened around the shampoo bottle. He ducked his head down, sucking in air. Was there anyone who could cut you to the quick the way that a lover could? In blunt words, Aaron had laid it out for him. Because of the hurt, he lashed out at them, not bothering to turn around. "With my injuries, would either of you spend the weekend recuperating in bed?" He scoffed slightly. "Of course you wouldn't. And no one would expect you to either. But me? Oh, well, I'm not just expected to. I'm _ordered_ to like some willful little child."

He spun around, his one hand still clenched around the bottle, his other hand rising up to point at them both. "Well, let me tell you two something! I am not made of glass. I will not break because of a graze on my arm or a bruise on my chest. I may hurt, yes. But I don't have to spend the entire weekend lying in bed to recover from it! I'm an agent too, dammit, and just as much a man as either one of you!"

"You think I want you in that bed because you're weak?" Morgan asked in shock. His own expression was transforming into one of anger.

"That's what you were implying!"

"You idiot!" Morgan pushed forward, backing Spencer into the corner of the stall, startling him into silence. "I want you in there because you being hurt makes _me_ weak!"

The shouted words were enough to disarm Spencer. His anger drained away and his eyes went wide. "What?" he whispered.

Morgan brought one hand up, lightly touching Spencer's cheek, raw emotion on his face. "Do you realize what it does to me when you're hurt, Spencer? How terrified I am? Knowing that, yet again, I failed to protect you. It shatters me inside. I'm not confining you to that bed because I think you're breakable, but because I need to know, at least for one weekend, that you're right there with me and safe and whole. I need to know that nothing else is going to happen to you."

Emotion overflowed in Spencer's heart. He felt the tears come back, but this time they weren't from hurt. He took a step forward, cupping Morgan's face in his hands. "Derek." The soft whisper was all that came out. What he wanted to say, he had no words for. So he bent his head in and pressed their lips together. All the love they felt for one another was in that kiss, soothing their hearts and easing their fears.

When they broke apart, Morgan tucked his head against Spencer's neck. The younger man held him close with his sore arm while he reached his other out, taking Aaron's hand, pulling him to them. "I'm sorry." He whispered. The kiss Aaron gave him made the tears finally overflow. "It's ok, Spencer." Aaron smiled and stole another kiss. "What Morgan said is true. We all love one another, but you're our center. Without you, I don't know what either of us would do. We wouldn't be whole anymore."


	17. Chapter 17

**Just want to say thank you again to all the people who are still around, still reviewing this, and to all the wonderful words of welcome! I'm so glad you're all still here and still enjoying this story! Here's the next chapter for you :) I'm going to try to update every few days. Not every day, because I'm not able to do that, but I am aiming for every couple of days. I'm trying, folks! With things, I can't make promises, but I will try my hardest to keep up on this. Okay, anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter :S**

* * *

When Spencer woke the next morning, the very first thought he had was that he was very, very warm. The second was that he hurt, quite a bit. His arm was burning slightly and aching and his chest felt like someone had punched him. Hard. Keeping his eyes closed, he simply lay there, concentrating on matching his breathing to that of his lovers, using theirs as a way to modulate his. It was a trick he'd learned a long time ago to control himself when he was hurting.

As soon as he was relaxed once more, he noticed something else entirely. None of them had dressed when they'd passed out in bed. There was only a small flush of discomfort at that thought before it was pushed aside. Then there was simply enjoyment. Even without opening his eyes, he knew which body pressed against his was which. It was easy. He was curled up against someone's side, his leg tossed between theirs, his aching arm on top and draped over their stomach, his head pillowed on their shoulder. That was Aaron. He knew the feel of him, the smell of his body wash. Hell, the texture of his skin, even. He smiled against Aaron's skin and snuggled in a little closer.

Morgan was pressed up behind him, pinning him in, just the way he liked. They were close enough in height that Morgan seemed to perfectly spoon behind him. His body was curved around the back of Spencer, one arm thrown over him, curved and lined up with his own arm so that both their hands rested on Aaron's stomach, his face pressed against the back of Spencer's neck. The feel of them both was the best sensation for Spencer to wake up to. He felt loved here; sheltered. Cherished. And, as he shifted once more, skin rubbing against skin, he also felt very, _very_ turned on.

"Someone woke up in a good mood."

The low murmur sounded above Spencer, followed by a soft kiss to the top of his head. The young genius felt a smile curving his lips. It didn't surprise him that his cuddling had woken Aaron up. Being a father, the man was a notoriously light sleeper. In contrast, Morgan could sleep through complete chaos, so long as it was sounds he was used to. Arguing, laughing, movies, music, none of that would wake the man. But a sound he didn't recognize, someone calling his name or a phone ringing? He was up in a flash.

Spencer arched against Aaron slightly, tipping his face up in a sign he knew his lover would recognize. Sure enough, Aaron's lips pressed against his, making Spencer arch a little more. He deliberately curled his hand over Aaron's side while drawing his leg up a little so that his knee was rubbing against the older man intimately. Their kiss grew just a little more heated. When they broke apart, Spencer finally opened his eyes some so that he could see the happy yet sleepy look Aaron wore. He loved seeing the man this relaxed. Too often Aaron had to be hard or strong for everyone else. It was wonderful to watch him lay down his burdens for a while and simply be himself.

Lifting the hand that was opposite the side Spencer was on, Aaron brought it over to stroke back some of Spencer's hair. With a soft little hum, Spencer bent his head, placing little kisses along the side of Aaron's neck, a place he knew would get a reaction. He wasn't disappointed. Aaron's hand twitched in his hair and his hips pushed a little against Spencer's still rubbing knee. "Shit." The curse word slipped past Aaron's lips on a puff of air. "You really did wake up in a mood, didn't you?"

Spencer chuckled and drew his mouth lower, nipping at Aaron's collarbone. "You talk too much." He murmured against Aaron's skin.

Air brushed against Spencer's neck and the soft sound of a chuckle filled his ears just as the body behind him pressed forward. Mm, Morgan was awake. "You torturing Aaron, baby boy?" Morgan asked, pressing kisses against the back of Spencer's neck, his shoulder, little nipping kisses that had the young man rolling his hips a little to not only push himself against Aaron's leg but to push back against Morgan. His body was wide awake now, the pain in his chest forgotten underneath an entirely different kind of ache. He moved his knee out of the way so that his hand could slip down, wrapping around the part of his lover that was most definitely wide awake. The way that Aaron gasped and his hips twitched had Spencer smiling in a devilish sort of way. That smile grew when Aaron shuddered out "Jesus, Spencer. I just, I…" Words seemed to fail him.

Smile stretched wide, Spencer moved his hand, dropping it lower. "You need to just lay back, Aaron, and enjoy." He finished for him. He felt Morgan's hand settle on his hip and knew the other man understood where this was going. With the morning sunlight streaming in, the three men stopped talking with words and instead, let their bodies talk for them

****My apologies to people who would've liked to read this. I've been, ah, _warned_ about my scenes in here and what is and isn't allowed on this site. Sigh. So, unfortunately, I had to cut this scene out. Argh, right? Well, hopefully no one is too upset with me. Let's go ahead and skip the naughty—fun, oh so fun—scene and go to right afterwards, when Spencer headed to the kitchen to get some coffee****

The timer on their coffee pot had to be one of the greatest things that had ever been invented. Being able to know that coffee was waiting for him when he got up, no need to make it and then stand around and wait, was a little slice of heaven for the young coffee addict.

That first sip was sheer heaven. Spencer stood there in the middle of the kitchen and drank half his cup, letting the pain reliever he'd taken kick in and the caffeine start to do its work, before he finally started to move once more. He made his way to the fridge, opening it and staring inside. Huh. Nothing was really in there. The egg carton held _one_ egg, the cheese was expired, and the milk…oh yeah, definitely past its due date. Damn. Damn, damn. He wrinkled his nose and took another drink of coffee as he shut the fridge door. He moved over to the cupboards, bracing the hand with his cup against the counter so that he could bend down and look into the cupboards where they kept their other breakfast items. His free hand rubbed absently against his chest, which was still aching.

Man, there wasn't anything down in the cupboards, either. They were in desperate need of groceries, apparently. There was only a half a box of cereal and it was the disgusting Honeycomb that Morgan liked so much. There wasn't even oatmeal or pancake mix! Footsteps came softly from behind him. Scowling at the cupboard, Spencer called out "We have no breakfast items."

"Well, hello there, Spencer." Aaron's voice carried amusement and a hint of flirtation to it.

Straightening up, Spencer furrowed his brows, wondering why on earth Aaron had that little grin on his face. "Hello, Aaron." He replied with a shake of his head. "Did you hear what I said? We have nothing to have breakfast with except for that Honeycomb cereal and Derek's the only one that eats those disgusting bits of cardboard."

"Hey!" A look of mock offense on his face and a hand over his heart, Morgan walked into the kitchen and made his way to the coffeepot. "You leave my cereal out of your grumpiness, baby boy."

"I'm not grumpy." He argued. "I'm hungry. There is a vast difference between the two."

Aaron walked over to the breadbox, opening it as he said "Have some to-…" He cut himself off when he saw the bread inside. "Or, maybe not."

For a moment, Spencer stared at the two. Then he shook his head. "Would you please make me a travel mug, Derek? I'm going to the store. We need food." He downed what was left in his cup and set it in the sink. "If you two could make up a quick list if there's anything in particular you need, I'll make a short run now and later we can go and get more."

Aaron caught his arm as he started to go past, the teasing gone from his face. "Spencer, I know you don't want us babying you, but you know you shouldn't be carrying bags of groceries around. A day of taking it easy isn't going to hurt you and it's what the doctor would say, _if_ you had gone to see one."

The corner of Spencer's mouth quirked slightly. "I know. And I won't be carrying bags around." He lifted a hand and stroked it over Aaron's cheek before leaning in and taking a quick kiss. "I'm going to be smart and use a cart and then, when I get home, you two are going to unload the car. I'll be fine, Aaron. I'll be the fastest." His little half smile grew into a full smile. "You always end up spending time bargain hunting and being very particular about what you want and Derek always comes home with more than we need."

"Hey now!" Morgan turned from the coffee pot to pretend to glare at him. "What's with the picking on me this morning?"

Spencer winked at him and stepped away from them both. "Just get me my list ready. I'll go throw some clothes on." He'd barely taken a few steps before, without even turning around, he tacked on "Alone!" stopping both men in their tracks. Morgan and Aaron exchanged a wide grin. While Morgan went back to the coffee pot, Aaron grabbed the notepad and pen that sat on top of the fridge. "Anything in particular you want?"

"Mmm. Maybe some steaks? I could grill for us tonight." He reached over and set down a prepared cup of coffee by Aaron before turning back to finish preparing Spencer's go-cup. "Oh, and some potatoes to go with it. Just a couple, though, not a whole bag."

Absently Aaron reached over and picked up his mug, taking a sip off as he thought of anything else they might need. He scrawled down a few things, checking it over before nodding. "There. That should get us through the weekend. With this, we won't have to go anywhere until it's time for work on Monday." He declared.

"Until Monday?" Spencer asked as he walked back into the room. He was putting his arms inside of a sweater before pulling it over his head. "We don't have to work until Monday?"

Morgan screwed the lid on Spencer's cup and turned around, holding it as he watched his young lover. "Yep. Aaron called Strauss and got her to agree to give you recovery time."

As he adjusted the sweater around his waist, Spencer raised an eyebrow, smirking at Aaron. "You mean your overprotectiveness actually managed to procure us the entire weekend off?"

"Barring an emergency, yes."

The older man was rewarded with a pair of arms twining around his neck and a kiss that sent heat through him and practically had his toes curling. When Spencer pulled away, the young man's eyes were warm. "Have I told you I love you lately?"

Aaron couldn't help his own smile. "Not since this morning."

"Well, allow me to rectify that. I do love you, so very much." He gave Aaron one last quick kiss before moving over to Morgan and giving him a kiss just as warm and just as mind-numbing as he'd given Aaron. When he broke away, he told Morgan "And you too, you know. Very, very much." Then, while the two were still smiling at him like fools, Spencer snatched the cup from Morgan's hands, grabbed a pair of keys out of the bowl on the counter and took off, calling out "I'll be back in a bit!"

The sound of the door shutting had Morgan coming back to life, shaking his head to clear it. Damn, but that boy could kiss when he put his mind to it. However, that wasn't a typical goodbye from Spencer. Looking over to Aaron, he asked "Why do I feel like I just missed something here?"

The senior profiler gave a soft snort right as a car outside started. Ruefully, he shook his head, realizing what exactly their youngest had done. "Because we just got played, Derek. The little brat distracted us and took the keys to the Charger." It was a ongoing joke/argument between the three of them, who got to drive what car. Aaron and Morgan jointly owned a Dodge Charger that they'd lovingly fixed together until they had it in great condition. Neither one typically let Spencer drive it, claiming that he didn't know how to drive 'her' right. Whereas typically, Spencer drove slowest of them all, something about sliding into that car seemed to bring out the speed demon in him. He'd been ticketed, twice, driving the Charger. Each time he'd accepted his speeding ticket with a smile.

Shaking his head, Morgan turned to pick up his own coffee cup. "That boy's deadly when he puts his mind to it."

"Amen to that one. Thank God for every moment of it."

* * *

Spencer's good mood stuck with him as he headed back home. There was just something about the day that made it easy to smile. Maybe it was that he knew he had the entire weekend with the men that he loved, or maybe it was that they'd woken up together—and what they'd done when they'd woke had probably contributed to this good mood. Whatever it was, he wasn't planning on questioning it. There was so much drama that was going to be waiting for them after this weekend was over, what with Ashley and Strauss and then their cases on top of that. For now he was just going to enjoy his good mood and the beautiful day.

As he rounded a curve right before their house, he grinned a little to him. Then again, his good mood could simply be because he'd managed to get the Charger without having to resort to begging or pleading. They might not be too pleased when he got home but he was convinced he could distract them from that. Not to mention, there wasn't a single scratch on the car and no cop had pulled him over. Cars were dangerous things, he knew. That was why he always drove them carefully and with great respect for the damage they could cause. But…this car, it wasn't meant to be driven slow.

He was humming along with the music—Mozart, today—just as he pulled up right outside the driveway. To his surprise, neither Morgan nor Aaron immediately came outside. Spencer smothered a chuckle as he pulled the Charger in to its spot under the carport. It was as he was turning the engine off that he saw something that his eyes almost passed over. He had to look back a second time for it to connect in his brain. Was that glass in the bushes, there? Right by where the window led to their basement. He stared at it for a second before realizing that, yes, it was glass. What the hell?

Every instinct went off in that moment. Why would there be a broken window to their basement? Too many times he'd seen that in the work they did. Too many times he'd looked at something like that and established it as an entry point at a home invasion. Shit. Shit!

_Okay, calm down. You could always find out that you're wrong about this. Maybe, just maybe, something broke it. That does happen. If you go in there freaking out and find out that nothing is wrong, they are going to laugh at you and they'd have every right to do it_. He told himself. Still…if he wasn't wrong, if there was something going on, and he walked in like an idiot, then what good would that do?

His internal debate ended when he saw the living room curtains flicker slightly, as if someone was looking outside. He waited a beat but there was no more movement and on one came out the front door. Okay, now he _knew_ something was wrong. One, Aaron or Morgan would have simply pulled the curtain out of the way or opened the front door. Two; if they had peeked like that, they would have been out the door a moment later to come carry things in. They would've hurried out, afraid that, if they didn't, Spencer might try to carry something on his own. Overprotective fools.

With the realization that something was wrong, panic hit Spencer like a fist. Yet, at the same time, he got that same feeling he did every time he was under stress. The fear was there, yes, but a sort of calm collected inside of him. It was well known among his team that Spencer did his 'best work under extreme pressure'. Now was no different. He pulled the keys out of the ignition and stuck them in his pocket before climbing out of the car. _Calm. Casual. Do not show on the outside that you know or something could happen. Most likely, if there's someone in there, they're waiting for you to come inside so that there's no chance of you shouting for help. You stay calm and you can get help._

He opened the backseat of the car, acting as if he were simply gathering up groceries. While he did that, he pulled out his cell phone, pressing the first number he could think of to help before balancing the phone between shoulder and ear. With one eye toward the living room window, Spencer grabbed the case of beer and bottle of wine from the backseat, wincing only a little at the pull on his aching arm and chest as he straightened back up. On the phone, a voice suddenly spoke up, answering "Reid, tell me we don't have a case."

Spencer pasted a smile on his face while setting his items on the ground beside the car. _Calm, casual._ "Hey, Rossi. No, no case." He moved toward the trunk and pulled out his keys to unlock it. Let the man think he was just getting the groceries. _Please, let this work. Please, please_. Quietly, he kept talking, trying to make sure no one could hear him while, at the same time, making himself look as if he was having a normal, pleasant conversation. "I may very well be acting ridiculous and I pray that I am, but I think someone broke into our house. I just got back from the store…" Quickly he summed up what he'd seen, wasting no time and mincing no words.

As he did, he opened the trunk, leaning down like he was going for his bags. But under cover, he was reaching for the little box they kept here in the trunk. His fingers quickly keyed in the code and he opened the top, grabbing the handgun that sat there. With practiced movements he checked to make sure that it was loaded.

The minute he explained the situation, Dave started to answer, his voice firm and sure. "You need to get out of there." He said immediately. "You need to get in the car and get out of there. I'll call it in and we'll get uniforms out there as quick as possible, Reid. But you need to get the hell out."

"I can't. Whoever's there most likely saw me pull in already and has seen me going for groceries. If I leave, if I panic, Aaron or Derek could be hurt." _If they're not already. Shit! Don't think like that, don't think like that._ "I'm going to try to get the phone in with me, so mute your end, Rossi. And I'm not going in unarmed." Determination filled his voice. "I won't leave them there. Just, get help, and get it fast. And be discreet. Who knows who they are or why they're here." And with that, Spencer dropped the phone down into one of the bags and tried to make sure it was there while not being too buried. Then he straightened, discreetly slipping the gun under the front of his sweater and hooking it in the front waistband of his pants. He needed to keep that there just in case, not go in with gun blazing. He didn't know the situation. Maybe there was more than one. Maybe he was going to have Aaron and Derek at gunpoint. Maybe he was overreacting to this.

It didn't matter. Gathering one bag under his arm, Spencer used the other to close the trunk. Then he moved over, picking up the beer and wine, and set off toward the house.


	18. Chapter 18

**AN- First, let me apologize to those that are angry with me for the deleted scene in the last chap. I got a message from a reader recently that warned me that I needed to be more careful on how I wrote my 'naughty scenes' or they'd report me for it. So, I deleted that scene. But, today, I'm really not that pleased with the result of it, so, in the next couple days, I will most likely go back and edit that chapter and add the scene in. Just because, well, I'm not going to be bullied lol. Anyways, here's the update, guys. I hope you like it-my friend beta'd for me and she swears up and down she loves it, so hopefully that means its good. I won't keep you, except to say thank you all so much for the positive feedback! I'm so happy you're loving this story like I am! :D You guys are the greatest and man, is it ever GREAT to be back here!**

**Anywho, read on!**

* * *

It was infuriating, the feel of handcuffs around his wrists. To be rendered helpless was not something that Derek Morgan dealt with well. He couldn't stop himself from flexing his wrists or moving his hands in a futile attempt to get himself free. One of the men standing nearby with a gun pointed their direction scowled at him and ordered "Quit squirming."

Dammit all to hell and back! Countless curses ran through Morgan's mind in that moment. He turned his eyes slightly to look to his side where Aaron was sitting, hands cuffed behind his back just like he was. Both of them had a strip of duct tape over their mouths. Morgan knew there was dried blood on his face from where he'd been struck earlier. He felt the ache there and saw the way Aaron's eyes darted toward the wound and back to his eyes, a silent question there. Morgan tried to give him as reassuring a look as possible to let him know that yes, he was okay.

This was beyond fucked up. After Spencer had left for the store, the two men had decided to get a few things done so that they could have plenty of free time once Spencer got back home. They put on music, actually managing to agree on something—they put on the Steve Miller Band—and then Aaron took the dirty clothes from their go-bags and got ready to start a load of laundry while Morgan took the empty go-bags back to the bedroom to pack them back up. No matter what, they always had to have the bags ready. It was just part of the job. And, despite how much they wished they didn't have to, Morgan made sure all their work phones were charged and the volume up on them so they would hear if a call from work came in.

It was when he was heading back out of the bedroom that everything seemed to happen at once. There was a sound ahead of him, towards the laundry room; a loud thump that instantly put him on alert. Not fast enough, though. He didn't even have time to blink when he stepped out of the end of the hall and someone swung something from the left, connecting with his head and dropping him straight to the ground. When he woke back up, he was in Spencer's office with handcuffs on his wrists, duct tape over his mouth, with Aaron trussed the same beside him, and two assholes with masks and guns were over at Spencer's desk, the guns pointed right at them.

How much time had passed? How long had he been out for? The only things he could console himself with so far were that Aaron didn't appear to be hurt and, from the looks of it, Spencer had yet to come home. _What the hell do they want with us? Who are these fuckers and why are they just sitting there, watching us? If they were burglars, wouldn't they have stolen something already and left after trussing us up? _Okay, so that meant that, logically, these two weren't here to rob them. Morgan's head gave a particularly nasty throb that had him wincing a little. _No, don't focus on the pain. Watch them for the chance to escape and keep your mind busy trying to figure this out!_

So what the hell did these two want? _They're not doing anything but watching us and…and _waiting_. They're waiting. Shit. Spencer. They're waiting for Spencer to get home._ That realization hit Morgan like a ton of bricks. Oh, shit. Whoever these people were, they wanted all three of them, not just the two of them. He prayed, over and over, that Spencer took a long time at the store. That, when he came home, he saw something amiss and went to get help. Anything. Anything that would keep him out of this house and away from whatever was happening. Bad enough the two of them were stuck there; he didn't want to think of the three of them being here.

Someone up above wasn't listening to his prayers. Morgan clearly heard the sound of the Charger's engine outside of the house. Aaron and Morgan turned wide eyes toward one another, their worry bright there. At the same time, one of the guys left the room, heading down the hallway.

He heard the car pull in and he sound of the engine shutting off. Morgan held his breath, waiting for the sounds of his young lover coming into the house, waiting to try and hear what would happen to him. Yet, there was nothing. The minutes stretched and still, nothing. From the direction of the living room they heard the guy curse. The one in the library moved to the window, taking a quick peek outside. Even so, his gun stayed trained on them, making sure they couldn't charge him.

"What the hell is the little freak doing?" The guy swore quietly. "He's just sitting there."

A growl built in Morgan's throat at the word 'freak'. He felt Aaron shift beside him, their knees brushing together, a silent reminder to quiet down. Morgan nodded and looked back at their Unsub. That's what this guy was and maybe he could better figure things out if he didn't think so emotionally and thought of him as just another Unsub. That sort of worked, until the man grinned. "About time." He turned back toward the two of them. "You're little freak there is on his way in. Soon, it'll be the three of us. Then the fun really begins."

They all heard as the front door opened and there were the sounds of Spencer's footsteps before the door shut. Morgan listened helplessly, unable to do anything. Even if he tried to make noise, the other guy was still out there with his gun.

A loud thud had Morgan and Aaron both wincing. The two men made as if to move, but the guy in front of them straightened his arm, keeping the gun pointed toward them. "Don't move." He hissed out.

More thuds and thumps came from the direction of the living room. From the sounds of it, Spencer wasn't going down easy. Then there was a sharp cry that Morgan recognized and the thumping stopped. A moment later footsteps were coming closer and closer and then Morgan's heart leapt up into his throat when the second Unsub came in, dragging Spencer by a hand in his hair, the young genius stumbling to try and follow that grip in his hair, his hands cuffed behind his back. When the guy practically threw Spencer across the room, Aaron and Morgan both gave muffled yells behind their tape. With their hands cuffed the way they were, neither could move to help him up.

"Get up there, on the couch." Unsub one snarled out. He was the one that had stayed in with Morgan and Aaron and he was definitely showing signs of being the dominant of the two.

Spencer scrambled up, his body trembling slightly. They both knew he had to be hurting. He'd already been aching this morning to start with; to have his injured arm pulled back like that most likely was leaving it aching, not to mention that it probably tugged on the bruising on his chest. Yet, though he was as white as a sheet, Spencer made not a sound. He just moved up and sat directly between them, wide eyes traveling from one to the other. There was fear there, Morgan could see, but there was also something else. Something that was just barely there before it was gone again. In those looks, Spencer not only reassured himself that they were okay, but tried to let them know that he was okay as well.

When Spencer turned back toward the Unsubs, his face was a perfect picture of fear. Eyes wide, face pale, fear written plainly. It was more afraid than Morgan had expected him to look. A glance to Aaron showed that the man was slightly surprised too. Then, a flash of something on Aaron's face, almost at the same time that Morgan realized it. Spencer was faking. That fear was an act. Or, at least, the severity of it was. And that meant that the kid had a plan. For him to have a plan, that had to mean that he'd come in here, knowing something was wrong. Morgan swore to himself that, when all of this was done, he was going to kick Spencer's ass if he'd really walked knowingly into this situation instead of going for help. For now, they had to work together to get the hell out of this.

The young genius, for his part, was trying to keep himself as calm as possible so that he didn't ruin the image he was trying to present. He couldn't stop the fear and anger that twined together inside of him at the sight of Morgan and Aaron cuffed and with that tape over their mouths. The blood on Morgan's head worried him, but a look showed that, while Morgan likely had a massive headache, the wound itself was essentially superficial. He would be okay.

Time to start on his plan. Granted, being cuffed made things more difficult, but he knew how to handle it. It just meant readjusting his plans a little bit. He'd hoped the Unsub would simply drag him back with his lovers. Spencer had known that he couldn't come in with his gun at the ready; there was too much of a risk of Aaron and Morgan being hurt. At the time, Spencer hadn't known how many Unsubs there were and he hadn't been willing to risk one of his lovers being shot because he hadn't thought things through. So he'd willingly taken the pain of the initial assault to bring him back here. Getting cuffed had been unexpected but he wasn't going to let it ruin anything. He'd just adjust.

Still, first things first. He lifted his eyes, trying for his most fearful, pitiful expression. "W-What do you w-want with us?" He stammered out. There was a little tremble on his words; a shakiness to make him appear even weaker than before. They needed to see him as weak. They needed to see him as the least likely of the three to be a threat. This was one time that his looks were going to be an asset instead of a deterrent.

One of the Unsubs only looked at him while the other sneered and shifted his gun from Morgan to Spencer. "You should worry less about what I want and more about what we're going to _do_."

The chill those words gave him was very, very real. When the two smiled, that chill grew a little. He let himself shiver, hoping to add to the weak image. "What've we d-done to y-you? W-Why are you d-d-doing this?"

"God, how the hell did you ever become FBI?" Unsub one said scathingly. "You're fucking pitiful. Jesus." He shook his head before shifting his gun so that it pointed at Aaron now instead of Spencer. "You, on your feet."

Wait, what? Spencer stared back and forth between the Unsub and Aaron. What was going on? "What're you doing with him?" Spencer demanded.

Unsub one didn't even look at Spencer. "None of your fucking business. On your feet, now, fucker! Or I have my buddy shoot one of your precious _partners_."

The way he said 'partners' was very, very telling and it gave Spencer a clue as to what this might be about. He started mentally cursing. If this had something to do with their sexuality, then they were in big trouble. The way the Unsub said partners, with so much obvious disgust in his voice, it suggested a dislike if not a hatred toward homosexuality. That kind of hatred didn't bode well for them.

With no other choice, Aaron rose to his feet, spine straight and gaze firm. He may have been cuffed and he may not have been able to speak, but that didn't mean that the man was going to bow down underneath anything. His strength was obvious, even in the condition he was in. The Unsub, however, didn't seem fazed by it. He gestured with his gun toward the door. "Come on. You and me, we're gonna go have a little _chat_." He looked quickly to his partner. "Keep this two here. Don't let them move off that couch."

Spencer felt his fear grow. What the hell was the man going to do to Aaron? He had to resist shouting and jumping up; that would do no good whatsoever. HE needed to stay as calm as possible. He needed to think clearly. Still, it was almost more than he could handle when Aaron looked back at them briefly, love bright in his eyes, and Spencer could see that the man wasn't sure if he'd be coming back. _I love you_! He tried to let his eyes say the words he knew he couldn't right now. Saying them could bring more harm than good from their Unsubs.

Even before the two were out of the door, Spencer was shifting himself slightly, trying to use the momentary distract to bring him closer to Morgan. Not for comfort, as Morgan might think, but for something else entirely. The bulky sweater he wore as well as their close proximity allowed Spencer to get at what he wanted—Morgan's handcuffs. First, though, he had to get into his own back pocket. That was easy enough. As he moved close to Morgan, he also moved his hands to the right, toward the side Morgan was on. It allowed him just enough room to snake his fingers into his pocket and snag his keys. In one smooth move he pulled his keys behind his back, at the same time asking "What do you guys want with us?" In an effort to mask the jangling sound.

A loud thud echoed to them, followed quickly by two more, startling Spencer so badly he almost dropped his keys. His eyes shot over to the door and Morgan jerked in his seat, obviously wanting to break free of the cuffs. Unsub number two looked over to the door and then back at them. "Just shut up." He snapped at. "You'll get your turn."

"Turn at what? What's he doing to him?" Spencer let his fear fill his words even as the rest of him firmed with determination. His fingers were running over his keys as stealthily as possible, trying to find the small key he wanted. Where was it, where was it? Come on! He wanted to growl as he shifted through them all. Where the hell was it? He had one on each key ring!

Morgan made some sound behind the tape, shouting something that Spence was sure was curse words. The man had great timing; he did it right as Spencer found the key he wanted. Morgan's noises had the Unsub moving the gun toward him and loudly telling him "Shut _up_!"

That shout gave Spencer the cover he needed to hold take the key he needed, the others clinking together as he let those drop down. _Oh, thank you. Thank you_. Because the man had been shouting at the time, he hadn't heard the keys. Luck was on their side at the moment. Spencer didn't plan on wasting a single second of it. If he could get Morgan's hands undone, then he could do his own and, together, they could take out this Unsub.

A little twist put him right up against Morgan's side. He let it look as if it were in reaction to the shout—as if he were so scared by the man yelling that he was cowering against Morgan. He even dropped his head a little, peeking up at the Unsub through his bangs. "Please." He said softly. "We haven't done anything. Please…" He reached over, his hand brushing over Morgan's arm. _Okay, now, follow it down to his wrist and get the cuff._ He kept peeking up at the Unsub, trying to watch him and figure out how to keep him distracted.

The man was sneering at him and shaking his head. "He's right. How the hell did someone like you get in the FBI? Look at you! You're a fucking coward. It don't surprise me that you're a fucking fag. But the other two? That is surprising."

The word fag had Morgan growling again, his gaze turning harder. Spencer was grateful that Morgan held still. He was able to get the cuff in his hand. Now, to carefully twist it without hurting Morgan. _Damn, they put them on tight! This is going to make his wrist ache. Sorry, Derek. I hope you understand what I'm doing._

More thuds came from outside of the room. This time there was a muffle grunt as well that ripped through Spencer. He didn't bother pushing away his fear or pain this time. Instead, he let them bleed into his words. "What is it you want to know? Please, we'll tell you anything, just stop hurting him! He hasn't done anything to you!" _Come on, a little twist more. Ah ha! There's the lock. Now, just to get the key in…_ "Why are you doing this to us?" The cuff under his hand gave a little click and Spencer almost wept for joy. He kept a firm grip on Morgan's wrist, hoping the man understood to stay still. Then he let go, bringing his hands back behind him.

Their Unsub took a step toward them, the hand holding his gun shaking just slightly. "Would you _shut up_ already or I swear to fucking God, I'll shoot you right now! I don't want to hear your whining!"

A muffled scream snapped all three heads toward the door. Nausea boiled in Spencer. That was Aaron. Holy shit, that was Aaron screaming like that. _Aaron_. What the hell was being done to him?

That sound was too much. While the Unsub was looking at the door, Morgan took a chance, pushing up from the couch and making a wild leap across the room. The minute he moved, Spencer did too, quickly trying to unlock his hands. His fingers fumbled a few times as he watched, wide-eyed, as Morgan tackled the Unsub to the ground and the two began to roll around, wrestling for the gun. He had to hurry! As soon as the other Unsub heard this, he'd either kill Aaron or come running. Neither of those was a good option. Spencer made a hoarse sound when he felt the key go in the lock.

He was already moving off the couch as his hand came free. With that free hand, he grabbed the gun from the front of his pants where, amazingly, it had stayed even when he'd been grabbed in the front hall. A cold calm settled over him while he raced from the room. Morgan could handle himself, of that Spencer was sure. The Unsub was smaller than Morgan and he wouldn't' stand a chance. No, Spencer's concern was Aaron.

He followed the sounds of grunts and what he thought was fists hitting flesh, letting it lead him to the office down the hall—Aaron's office. The door wasn't completely shut and Spencer moved right up to it, trying to look in and see how safe it would be to move in. What he saw had all thoughts of control and safety going out the window. Aaron was lying on the floor, huddled around himself, one of his arms definitely bent at a funny angle, with the Unsub standing over top of him, foot drawn back to deliver a kick.

Fury was something that Spencer rarely ever let control him. In that moment, it took all control from him. He shoved the door open and raised his hands, his voice hard as he said "Drop your weapon and put your hands in the air, now!"

The Unsub lifted his head and glared right at Spencer. "You don't have the balls for it, punk." He lifted the hand holding his gun and Spencer didn't hesitate to fire, hitting the man right in his shoulder. With a roar, the Unsub was knocked back, running right into the wall.

Quickly Spencer moved forward, gun still pointed at him, and placed himself protectively over Aaron. Behind him he heard footsteps and, when he spared a glance, he saw with relief that it was Morgan. His lover burst into the room, quickly taking stock of the situation and moving straight toward their Unsub. In that moment of distraction, though, the man had managed to recover himself just enough. Spencer saw the movement and tried to react, but wasn't fast enough. He fired a second shot at the same time that the Unsub fired his first. Spencer's shot hit the Unsub in his chest, dropping him down to the ground right as Morgan got there.

Toward the front of the house, there was the sound of the front door slamming open and footsteps racing inside. The cavalry had arrived.

* * *

**Hope you liked! ;) Please, R&R, let me know what you think lol**


	19. Chapter 19

**Sorry this is a little shorter than normal, guys. This change in weather to the really cold stuff has my hands acting up and I'm typing in short bursts before my fingers cramp :P But the story won't let go, so I can't stop trying to write lol. Hope you like this and hopefully when I get my gloves from the doctor tomorrow, I'll be able to type better. :)**

* * *

It seemed like the house was in complete chaos. Everyone seemed to come rushing in all at the same time and the room was full of agents with their guns out. Dave, Emily, and Ashley were there, as well as other agents the trio knew. As soon as they realized that their Unsubs were under control, Dave assessed the three men and called out for a medic. He dropped down by the first obviously hurt person, who just happened to be Aaron.

Spencer was already kneeling beside him, fingers fumbling at his handcuffs. Seeing the way that Spencer's fingers fumbled, Dave reached a hand out. "Let me help, Reid."

At the same time that Spencer let go of the keys, Morgan dropped down beside them. He grabbed the strip of tape on Aaron's mouth and yanked it off. That allowed them all to hear Aaron's groan as his arm was jostled. Everyone could see that it was broken. Morgan's hands were on Aaron's face, stroking over his cheeks, one coming up to smooth back his hair. "Shh, honey, I'm right here. Help's on the way, okay? Medics are coming." He murmured. Down lower, Spencer had one hand on Aaron's hip, rubbing softly in his own effort to help soothe. The Unit Chief seemed unable to speak; his lips pressed tightly together to most likely keep from making any pained sounds.

Medics came rushing into the room and the next few minutes were a blur of sound and movement. Aaron was moved onto a gurney, Morgan staying right at his face to try and keep him calm, the other agents standing around, unsure of what to do. Spencer was still kneeling on the ground, keeping out of the way. When they started to move Aaron out of the room, Morgan looked over at Spencer as if to say something but Spencer gestured at him with one hand. "Go with him. Go. I'll be there as quickly as I can."

As Aaron was taken from the room, Emily hurried over toward Spencer, dropping down beside him. "Reid, are you okay?" she asked as she put a hand on his shoulder.

He held up one hand toward her. "Just a minute." That hand dropped down, bracing on the ground. He didn't flinch as Dave knelt down beside him, or as Ashley did the same. Another medic came into the room and was making their way over toward them. The man knelt down, looking at Spencer's face as he asked "Sir, are you injured?"

"Just a minute." Spencer repeated hoarsely.

The medic looked to the others before looking back at Spencer. "Sir, I need to take a look at you."

"Is the other ambulance gone?"

"What?" Ashley asked with surprise.

Spencer lifted his eyes to her and repeated his question slowly and carefully. "Is the other ambulance gone?" His eyes closed and his body seemed to slump slightly. "Can't have them, them seeing…" His words trailed off as his body slumped even more. Just barely did Emily manage to reach her hands out and catch him. The paramedic was already moving toward Spencer. It took no time at all for them to see what was wrong. The side of Spencer's sweater, the side he'd been hiding under his hand, was steadily growing more and more red.

* * *

Morgan furiously paced the waiting room, hands shoved deep in his pockets. He absolutely hated waiting in moments like this. All he wanted was to be back with Aaron right now, holding his hand, making sure that he was okay. As soon as they'd arrived, they'd ushered Morgan to the waiting room and taken Aaron straight back. That's where he'd been since then, waiting and pacing and waiting and steadily growing more and more frustrated. Couldn't they hurry up? He wanted to know what was wrong with his lover! He needed to see him; to know he was okay.

Who the _fuck_ were these bastards? What the hell had they wanted with them? He brought his hand up, running it over his head, brushing against the tape the paramedic had put over the cut on his head. Apparently the head wound wasn't that bad, so there was no need for stitches. Thank God. He really, really didn't like the idea of going and getting stitches in his head. Or doing anything, really, that would take him away from this room. This was where he was going to stay until someone came out and told him what the hell was going on with his partner. The others could handle the Unsubs at the house. Even they weren't important in Morgan's world at the moment. What mattered was the man back there somewhere, injured, and his other partner that had yet to show up.

That thought had Morgan pausing in his pacing and furrowing his eyebrows. Where was Spencer? He should have been here by now. At the house, Morgan had only been able to focus on Aaron, who was so obviously hurt. They'd heard the man being beaten. They'd heard him scream! Oh, how hard that had been. Morgan wasn't the type to sit back and do nothing. It had been the hardest thing in the world to make himself hold still while they listened to Aaron be hurt. It had ripped out part of his heart. Then to see him there, see his obviously broken arm, see how white he was and the way pain pinched at his eyes, it had just sent Morgan into an overprotective mode. When Spencer had told him to go, Morgan had thought nothing of it. Now…now he wondered. And that wondering was making his worry grow.

Things weren't matching up right. Why had Spencer stayed there? Why had he stayed down on the ground? Even more…why hadn't he been his usual self, snapping out information at the medics and lecturing them on what they were doing wrong and right for his loved one? Spencer had a tendency to try and tell paramedics how to do their job sometimes if he felt they weren't doing well enough. Though not everyone realized it, the young genius had a protective side to him that could flare strong and bright under certain circumstances. What would have kept him from acting on it now?

Morgan didn't get a chance to think on it anymore. His name was called and he looked up to see Dave, Emily and Ashley all moving toward him. One look at their carefully blank faces had his stomach dropping. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong. Where was Spencer? "What's going on?" He demanded in a hoarse voice. He didn't know if he could take anything else. Not today.

"One of the Unsubs is being taken over to the Bureau." Emily said when she got close. "The other, they had to bring him to the hospital as well. He's still alive, but just barely so. They're not sure if he's going to survive or not."

"They have him under guard while he's here, just in case." Ashley added in. "They were going to take him straight to surgery."

Morgan looked at them and his worry grew. "Where's Spencer?" That was the most important question of all. Where the hell was his young lover? Why wasn't he here? "Where the hell is he?"

The soft sigh Dave let out had Morgan's worry growing straight to panic. His eyes shot over to the senior profiler and he knew, even before the man spoke, that this wasn't going to be good. It wasn't going to be good at all.

"Derek." Dave started out softly. "I need you to keep calm, all right? Panic right now isn't going to do anything." Before Morgan could say another word, Dave dropped the bombshell. "Reid was shot. The paramedics had to bring him in. He went straight to surgery."

Agony flared inside of Morgan so that he had to close his eyes to try and contain it. Shot. Spencer was shot. That was why he hadn't got up off the floor. He'd been _hiding_ his injury until they got Aaron out of there. So not only was Aaron hurt, but Spencer had been shot and was in surgery. His two lovers were both being treated right now and he had no idea how either of them were doing and he just, he just….Morgan felt his knees start to give underneath him.

Arms were there, leading him back, sitting him in a chair. None of them had expected this kind of reaction. They'd expected anger; rage, even. They'd expected him to shout or swear or slam his fist through something. They'd expected to see rage. Not this, this aching, broken man that was now slumped down in the hospital chair, his face buried in his hands. Silent, Emily sat down beside him, surprising him by reaching over and taking his hand in hers, lacing their fingers together. The two shared a look, but not a word. In that look, Morgan drew strength. He wasn't alone in this. He wasn't alone here and he wasn't alone in his fears. His friends, his family, were with him. He felt Dave sit down on his other side and a hand was laid on his shoulder, giving a comforting squeeze. With his friends on either side, Morgan sat and waited, not just for news on one lover, but now for two. _Please, please, let them be okay! Please!_

* * *

It took almost an hour before the doctor came to the waiting room. The people he found there weren't exactly what he was expecting. Jason Brown had been told that the man he was working on, Aaron Hotchner, was an agent at the FBI and that his team was waiting for news in the waiting room. The man had told him to go and alert his team and tell them what was going on. Yet the people there didn't seem like what he would've expected of a group of co-workers.

A muscular black man sat in the center of the group, his head bowed in what looked to be prayer. There was a woman on either side of him, each one a contrast to the other. One was dressed almost business like, with an air of feminine strength to her. The other was dressed in bright colors and bold patterns, with feathers in her hair and rings on her fingers. Yet each one was leaning into the man, holding his hands. The busty blond even had her head on the man's shoulder and one arm behind him, rubbing at his back. Beside them sat another man, with salt and pepper hair and a sort of stern expression on his face. He wasn't leaning in like the women, but he was most obviously a part of their group and just as supportive as the others. The only one that seemed separate from the group was another blond that sat a little off to the side as if unsure of her place there.

They were the only people in the waiting room, so Dr. Brown stepped out, calling out "Aaron Hotchner?" and to his surprise, every face turned toward him. Apparently they _were_ his team. They were obviously a very close knit group.

All of them rose as Dr. Brown made his way over. The dark haired man had an agonized look to him that instantly touched Brown's heart. The man with salt and pepper hair held up his identification, showing his badge as he said "I'm Agent Rossi. This is Morgan, Prentiss, Seaver and Garcia." He pointed to each one in turn. "We're Agent Hotchner's team as well as his friends. How is he?"

As always, Brown gave the best news first. It was always the first piece of news any person was waiting for. "Agent Hotchner is going to be fine. We'll hold him overnight for observation, but I feel confident in releasing him tomorrow. After that, he'll need rest and he'll need to take it easy." He saw all of them slump slightly with relief and he smiled before continuing with the rest of the information. "His right forearm was broken, but we were able to reset the bones and cast it. He also has a few bruised ribs and some bruising on his left shoulder as well as his hip. We've got him cleaned up and he's in a private room if you'd like me to take you back to see him."

The one that Rossi had introduced as Morgan let out a heavy breath before asking "Can you tell us anything about another agent that was brought in? Spencer Reid?"

Brown furrowed his brows before shaking his head. "I'm sorry, I don't know the name. I can check with the nursing staff and see what I can find out for you, though. Why don't I have someone escort you back to Agent Hotchner's room while I take care of that?"

They all thanked him profusely as he flagged down a nurse. Within moments, the group set off down the hall, following Nurse Joy. Brown watched them for a moment before giving his head a shake. It must be a nice thing to work with people who were not only co-workers, but obviously friends. No, not even just friends. Those people were a family. It was a nice thing to see. Smiling to himself, he moved over to the nurses' station. "Hey, Rae." He flagged down one of the women there. "Can you give me some information for the agents back there? Apparently they've got another agent in here by the name of Spencer Reid. How's he doing?"


	20. Chapter 20

**AN-Okay, this chap is short, sorry. My gloves are starting to help a little, but it's taking time. And tomorrow being Thanksgiving, I'm going to be busy. So I thought a short update would be better than nothing, as I probably won't be able to update for a few days with the holiday plans. Sorry, folks! My next update should be up by Saturday or Sunday at the latest. I know, I know, that's some wait :/ Sorry folks but I've got two Thanksgiving meals to attend (one of which I have to attempt to cook with my aching hands lol that'll be funny) So anyways, enjoy this chap and to those that celebrate, enjoy your holiday. To those that don't, well, enjoy the rest of your week!**

* * *

When the agents stepped inside of Aaron's room, all but one of them stayed back by the door. They allowed Morgan to go ahead of them, giving him and Aaron the one thing they both needed right then more than anything else. A moment with each other. Morgan didn't even pause to think of the others. As soon as the door opened and he stepped inside, he had only eyes for his lover. "Aaron." His name was said with an obvious sound of relief. In just a few steps, Morgan was at his bedside, reaching out to take his free hand.

"Derek." Everything about Aaron's face softened with a love that was obvious to any, but especially to those watching. He gripped Morgan's hand tightly. "You're okay. You're not hurt."

Morgan bent down and pressed a kiss to Aaron's forehead. His free hand came up, simply resting over Aaron's heart as if reassuring himself that it still beat under there. "I'm okay. They taped up my thick head and I took a few Advil. I'm fine. But you…you scared the hell outta me, old man."

"Old man?" Arching one eyebrow, Aaron gave him a classic 'watch it' look. "I may be in a cast and in a hospital bed but that won't stop me from getting up and kicking your ass, Derek."

A wide smile spread over Morgan's face. "There." He said, pressing another kiss to Aaron's forehead. "There's the ornery cuss I know and love. That's much better."

Aaron smiled back briefly before it wiped away underneath a worried look. His eyes moved around the room, passing over their friends and settling back on Morgan. "Where's Spencer?"

"Aaron, baby..." Taking a deep breath, Morgan let it out and told his lover the news he didn't want to have to say. "He's in surgery right now. That lost shot the Unsub fired, it caught him. I don't know anything else right now." Because he'd been prepared for it, he had his arm braced in just enough time to keep Aaron from coming up off the bed. "Don't even think about it. You're not getting up from this bed until the doctor clears you."

"I'm not…!"

"You're doing whatever the doctor tells you to." Morgan barreled right over whatever Aaron had been about to say. He gave a glare that was reminiscent of Aaron's when someone seriously messed up. "I will stay right here until you're released if I have to. But you are not getting up from that bed, Aaron. I don't give a damn if I have to sit on you to hold you down. Getting up and hurting yourself more and causing a ruckus isn't going to get Spencer out of surgery any faster and it's not going to make anything any better. You can wait for news here just as easily as out in the waiting room."

To the surprise of the others, Aaron glared at Morgan and immediately started to argue…but he didn't try to get up. He actually stayed in his bed like he'd been ordered to. "There are plenty of other things I can be doing instead of sitting here. All I need is a sling for my arm and I can be out of here. I need to find out what's going on. What about our Unsubs? What about heat from above? Our relationship was private but it's not going to be now with two people breaking into a home we live in together. Crime scene techs will go through the house and find evidence that all three of us live there."

"We'll handle it." Morgan said firmly. "I am not letting anything fuck this up, do you hear me? You two mean the world to me and there is nothing anyone can say or do that's going to change that. They wanna pick a fight about this, then they can bring it."

"As for what's going on, I think we might be able to help with that." Finally deciding to speak up, Dave started toward the bed. His words drew both Morgan's and Aaron's attention over to him. Calm as can be, he walked right up to the foot of the hospital bed. "Last word wasn't hopeful for the Unsub that Reid shot, but he was heading to surgery to try and save him. The other one was taken to the Bureau, though the medics had to treat him first. Apparently he got a little injured at some point."

The grin Morgan gave was just a little sharp and smug. "He shouldn't have resisted."

Dave rolled his eyes but kept on going. "I'll be going down there to handle interrogation myself in just a bit. I just wanted to check on you and make sure that everything else was settled. Morgan, we'll need you to come make an official statement at some point. And I think one of us can stay here to take yours, Aaron. Maybe someone can explain how exactly two of you got out of handcuffs to begin with."

"That was Spence." There was a note of pride to Morgan's words. He squeezed Aaron's hand and smiled down at him before looking back at the others. "We've always teased him about it, but he keeps a spare handcuff key on all our key rings after losing his once. My mouth was still taped, so he spoke with the Unsub, playing up the weak image, while behind us he was unhooking my cuffs. When we heard Aaron shout…" That had Morgan wincing before he continued. "…I took advantage of the moment to tackle the guy and Spence pulled a gun out and went off to find Aaron. I don't know what happened between there and me charging in, but I heard a shot and I'd already restrained the other Unsub, so I took off to help. When I came in, Spence was over Aaron, and he and the Unsub were both holding their guns. I tried to rush in, but they both got a shot off. I assumed the guy's shot missed." He looked back down at Aaron, drawing strength from him. "When I looked back over, he was kneeling by you and I just assumed he was okay. He told me to go ahead and go when the medics got there."

Aaron closed his eyes and let his head rest back against the bed. "He probably wanted to make sure we were cleared first. The idiot wouldn't want to worry us." Opening his eyes, Aaron looked over to Dave. "How did you guys know we needed help anyways?"

"He's right. How did you guys know to come?" Morgan echoed.

This time it was Dave's turn to grimace slightly. He sighed as he looked at them. They weren't going to be happy about this. It wasn't going to go over well _at all_. But they would find out eventually. Better now, when they could get over being annoyed before they saw Spencer. "Reid called me. He told me he'd just got back from the store and that he saw the basement window was broken and he was pretty sure someone was watching from the curtains in the front room."

Stunned silence fell over the room. Then Morgan's voice echoed around them as he exploded. "You mean he came in there, _knowing_ there was someone in there?" he demanded furiously.

"He said they'd already seen him pull in and that if he left, there was a high likelihood that the Unsubs would have attempted to get rid of the two of you and bolt. You guys know that. He did the only thing he could and apparently, he did it well."

"Look at it, Morgan." Emily spoke up. "He went in with keys to unhook you guys. From what you said, he went in armed as well. He didn't just go blindly in there; he went in with a plan and that plan got you guys free."

"It also got him shot!" Morgan shouted.

This time it was Aaron pulling on Morgan's hand to calm him down. "Shouting isn't doing any good, Derek. Both of us would have done the same thing." The calm reminder was enough to have Morgan going still. It didn't take away the anger and agony in his eyes, however. In the moment of quiet, Aaron looked to his team. "Dave, why don't you and Seaver go back the Bureau, go deal with our Unsubs. Prentiss, Garcia, if you could see if the nurses have any information about Spencer, that would be helpful. And see if you can get the doctor in here so I can find out how long I have to stay before they'll discharge me. None of us are doing any good just standing here."

In short order, everyone was off following their Unit Chief's orders. The minute the room was empty, Morgan didn't hesitate to take a seat on the side of the bed. "Aaron…"

"I know." The older man cut him off quietly. "Trust me, I know. But we're okay and I have to believe that Spencer's going to be okay. We have to hold on to that until someone tells us otherwise."

Sighing, Morgan nodded. Then he couldn't hold back any longer. He leaned in, taking the gentle kiss he was so desperately craving. It soothed some of the more ragged places in his heart. When they broke apart, he rested his forehead gently against Aaron's. "What the hell did these assholes want with us? What was all this about?"

"I think it was about us." The words seemed to be pulled from Aaron, his reluctance to say them obvious. "He kept asking me to admit I didn't love you two. Not that the tape would've allowed me to answer him, really. At first I thought he was just lashing out, but the way he continued to demand it, it implies that this was the motivation for this. But I didn't recognize him at all. It wasn't someone we knew. So why would they have a problem with our relationship?"

Their relationship? That had been the cause of all this? That had been the motivation behind it? The idea of that was horrifying. Morgan felt his breath catch in his chest. The pain of it had him closing his eyes. "How the hell could someone hate our relationship that much that they'd do this? And what would be the point? To what, kill us because of it?"

"Or to split us up. Why else would he want me to say that I didn't love you two?"

"Shit." Morgan swore. He let go of Aaron's hand and started to move away.

The senior agent brought his good hand up, wrapping it around the back of Morgan's neck, holding him in place so that their foreheads stayed pressed together. "Remember what you said when you came in, Derek." There was a fierce note to Aaron's words. "You two mean the world to me too. Nothing, not some crazy Unsub, not the Bureau, not anything, is going to take me away from the two of you. I'm not letting anything fuck this up either. I love Spencer, and I love you, Derek."

"I love you too." There, forehead to forehead, eye to eye, breath to breath, the two men drew strength from one another for whatever else was going to come their way.


	21. Chapter 21

**So sorry! I know I said Sunday :/ I'm sorry! No excuses. honestly, I just got caught up in writing something else :P Anyways, it's not long, but here it is. The next one should be up faster than a week this time :D Hope you like !**

* * *

Despite Aaron's threats and demands, the doctor was still insisting on holding him overnight for observational purposes. When it became obvious that Aaron was growing more and more agitated with the doctor because of that, Morgan neatly stepped in and switched the topic to something he knew would distract Aaron and something they both desperately wanted to know. "Was there any word on our other agent? On Spencer Reid?"

Dr. Brown grimaced and gave him a sympathetic look. "Last I checked he was still in surgery, agents, I'm sorry. But I spoke with the nurses and they know to come directly here as soon as there's word."

That was the best that they could get. The two men settled in to start the hardest part of any hospital visit; the wait. How many times had they sat and waited for news on Spencer? How many hospital trips had they made for the team? What made it worse was that most of the trips made to the hospital for a team member were for Spencer. The man was a trouble magnet, as he'd been called by plenty of people. He just had this knack for drawing trouble to him and for somehow always managing to survive it. That was one thing the two couldn't help but think about.

Most people looked at Spencer and saw this tendency to draw trouble to him. They saw the situations he'd been in and the things he'd gone through and that was what they focused on. Aaron and Morgan saw more than that. They saw him in those situations, yes, but they saw him afterwards. They saw the one fact that plenty of people seemed to gloss over. Spencer got into plenty of trouble, there was no denying that. But he _survived_ every single time. He survived and came out stronger than ever, no matter what it was that got him. That was what they had to hold on to now. If they didn't, they might just shatter.

Eventually Emily and Garcia came back into the room. Because she knew better, Garcia didn't fuss too much over Aaron, but she naturally fussed over Morgan's head, earning a grin of amusement from Aaron. After a bit, the group settled in. Morgan stayed sitting on the edge of Aaron's bed, their hands never letting go of one another. Emily took up a chair and absently watched the TV that Aaron turned on, not really watching it but needing something to look at. Garcia pulled her knitting out of her purse and the soft clacking of needles was added to the room.

It seemed as if time had stretched out for hours, though none of them really knew how much had passed. But there was a sudden knock on the door that startled them all and drew their eyes. The door opened a second after the knock and Dr. Brown stuck his head in before following it with his body. "I happened to be at the nursing station when word came of your friend." He told them instantly. "He's out of surgery and, though he's got a long recovery ahead of him, current prognosis looks good."

That was enough to take the bubble of tension in the room and pop it. Brown smiled at them and gave the agents all a moment to digest the good news before he finished what he had to say. After a moment, he continued. "Agent Reid was shot in the abdomen. The bullet tore damaged his spleen but luckily didn't catch the large intestine. By the time they got him on the table, his spleen had ruptured and required a splenectomy." He saw the shock on their faces and the worry and hurried to finish his explanation. "He's in the ICU now and they'll monitor him closely. He's young and he's strong. They'll keep an eye on him and so long as no infection settles in, he should be able to have an uneventful recovery."

He'd left out a few details, they all knew. What he'd told them was dumbed down and made easier for them to understand. The extras, they probably didn't need to know. What they needed to know, what they needed to focus on, was that he was going to be okay. Sore for a while and stuck in the hospital, but okay. Morgan and Aaron exchanged a quick look that spoke volumes and then Morgan looked to Brown. "Can I go see him?"

"He's still out of it right now, Agent. They'll be keeping him under sedation for now to keep his movement as minimal as possible. So long as things progress fine through the night, they'll move him to a recovery room in the morning where he'll spend the rest of his stay here. It'd be best to wait until the morning to see him. It'd probably be a good idea to have a friendly face when they take him off the sedation, actually." With one last smile, Brown told them "Now, I've got to get back to my other patients. I just wanted to let you guys know. You folks have a good day and I'll be back later, Agent Hotchner, to check on you." And with that, he was gone.

The four people left behind all seemed to let out a collective sigh. "He's going to be okay." Garcia said gratefully. "Oh thank God. I'm going to slap him for scaring me like this when he's better. All of you are going to give me grey hairs, you know that? I'll be the grey before I'm forty!"

Morgan chuckled weakly and reached out to pat her shoulder. He started to say something when the door opened once more. This time, it was Dave walking in with Ashley right behind him, and the look he wore said this wasn't going to be anywhere near as good of news as what the doctor had just given. He stepped inside, eyes going straight to Aaron, and there was something there that had Morgan shifting protectively toward his lover. Something was about to happen; something very, very wrong. Apparently Aaron felt the same way. With barely a wince, he straightened up a little, latching tighter onto Morgan's hand. "What is it, Dave?"

The look on Dave's face clearly said he would rather be anywhere else doing anything else right at that moment. Anywhere that would take him away from here and the things he had to say and what he was about to tell this group of people. But there was no one else he would have passed this job off to. No one else that he would send in here to say what he knew needed to be said. That wouldn't have been right. So, squaring his shoulders, he stepped closer to his friends and prepared to tip their world on its axis. "The Unsub that was shot, he didn't make it. We used that in interrogation with the other Unsub, who's definitely the submissive in the partnership. It didn't take much for him to give up who paid them to do this. We…we checked it out first, verified the information, before I came here, Hotch." He looked right at the Unit Chief as he said "The money came from Tammi Miller." Tammi Miller, as anyone who had known Haley and Aaron when they were married, had been Haley's best friend since kindergarten.

Aaron couldn't believe it. Every inch of him froze. He just stared at Dave for a moment, unable to form words, unable to ask the question he knew he had to ask. Dave knew him well, though. He answered before Aaron had to ask. "As far as we've been able to see, Haley had no idea. We've got Tammi being brought in right now and I'll handle the interrogation myself. We'll find out why she wanted to do something like this."

"To split us apart." Morgan's voice was low and cold; not a good sign. His temper was capable of being handled when he was yelling. When he went icy, it was a warning sign. It was also when he was at his most dangerous. "The bastard kept asking Aaron to admit he didn't love us. They had to wait to do anything until Spencer came home so that they could have the three of us. They _wanted_ Spencer and I to hear Aaron screaming. That's why they didn't kill us." He turned, looking down at Aaron. "That's why he took _you_ out of the room to 'question'. Because you were the one that was important in this."

"Jesus." Ashley whispered. "How could someone be that prejudiced?"

Aaron didn't react fast enough to keep Morgan on the bed. In a flash the man was up off the edge of the bed and staring incredulously at Ashley. "You of all people have the absolute _nerve_ to stay that?" He seethed at her. "You? Really? You were ready to ruin our lives to get us apart! To have our jobs, jobs we've worked damn hard at to get where we are, ripped away from us just because you couldn't stand seeing us as a couple! What's a beating compared to that? I would've thought you'd consider it a fair trade off if it got us apart, right? Bruises heal." His laugh was harsh and hard and full of an aching pain that startled Ashley back a step and kept the others silent.

"I, I would never want…this isn't something I would, I mean…"

"You mean what?" He snarled. "So you're telling me it's okay to destroy someone one way and not another? That it's okay to hurt someone so long as it isn't physical, huh? Well, you go to hell, Seaver. Go to hell and get out of here. You've got no damn right to be in here right now. None! I may not have been able to protect my lovers from getting hurt but I sure as hell can protect them from prejudiced assholes like you. Now _get out_!"

Eyes wide, Ashley almost ran backwards out of the room. Before anyone could say anything about Morgan's outburst, he wiped a hand over his face. "I, I need some air." And with that, he was going out the door as well, leaving behind a roomful of stunned people.

It was, naturally, Garcia who went after him, excusing herself quietly. That left Dave and Emily standing there at Aaron's bed. They watched as the older man laid his head back against the pillows, his eyes closing. "Well." He finally sighed out. "At least we got one good bit of news."

"Reid?" Dave asked quickly.

Nodding, Aaron quickly summed up what the doctor had told them. When he was done and the room had been quiet for a few moments, the two agents thought that maybe Aaron had drifted off to sleep. Just as they started to walk away, Aaron softly said "Dave?"

Dave paused and looked back at him. "Yeah?"

"You'll let me know the instant you know anything?"

"It'll be the first thing I do."

"Thanks."

The room was quiet as Dave and Emily left Aaron to his thoughts.


	22. Chapter 22

The next morning, the doctors felt that Spencer was doing well enough to take him off the sedation as well as remove the nasogastric tube. He woke two separate times, briefly, after they did that. Neither time did he fully wake enough to be coherent, but the doctors said that was expected and assured the others that his body would wake when it was ready; it had been through quite an ordeal. The nurses all smiled to themselves at the obvious love this group of people held for one another—the young man in the bed was never left alone for any period of time. One of the nurses suggested to the serious looking man with the arm sling that maybe he go home and rest and he'd just shook his head before calmly telling them "I'll be here when he wakes." Then he and the darker man had settled into chairs beside the hospital bed, keeping out of the way of the nurses, and they held hands as they quietly waited.

For the amount of times that he'd been in the hospital, one would think that Spencer would have grown used to waking up and finding himself there. Yet each time he did it, it was always a shock to his system. It always took him just a little while to reorient himself. This time wasn't any different. Slowly but surely Spencer felt himself starting to wake up, his senses coming back to him slowly. As always, thought was one of the first things to trigger for him. How many times had Morgan teased him that his brain never stopped thinking of things? He didn't tell the man how true that seemed to be. It was already thinking before he even got around to opening his eyes. Every bit of his body felt heavy in a way he thought he recognized and that made him very afraid. That heavy feeling only came from one thing; drugs.

What came through next was touch. He felt hands in his, stroking at his arms, one up by his face and smoothing his hair back from his forehead. Then voices. Someone was talking to him, coaxing him, and he knew that voice. No, those voices. There were more than one. "Come on, baby boy. That's it. Come on now, open those pretty eyes of yours." Said one. And the other, "That's it, honey. We're right here with you. Just open your eyes and look up at us. We're right here and we've got you."

A second later his brain processed who those voices belonged to. Aaron and Derek. Those voices were Aaron and Derek. Finally, finally, some of the weight lifted and Spencer tried to blink his eyes open. The first look he got had him shutting them tightly once more and regretting trying. It was _bright_. The rest of him still felt all floaty, almost weightless, but that bright light made his eyes _hurt_. He heard a groaning sound and it took him longer than it should have to realize that it came from him.

Someone's hand was stroking over his cheek and another was smoothing back his bangs again. "Shh, baby boy." Morgan murmured lowly. "Don't try moving too much yet. I didn't think about the lights. Just take it easy, take it slow."

"Everything and everybody is okay." Aaron told him. They were words that Spencer latched on to. "We're all okay. You just lay there and take it easy. You've had it awfully rough, honey."

The more alert he became, the more reality was returning. All of a sudden it became important that he opened his eyes. Important that he see the men in front of him and know for sure that they were really there. That he wasn't just in some medicine induced haze from whatever had happened and was hallucinating their voices. He had to see for himself that they were really okay. Spencer made himself try to blink, to gradually adjust himself to the light. It took a few blinks and a few winces before finally, thank you!, he got his eyes to open. They were blurry at first under the bright light but gradually they cleared and he saw the most beautiful sight ever right in in front of him. Morgan was on his left, Aaron was on his right, and both of them were bent in so that their faces were practically side by side and oh-so-close to his. It was the perfect thing to see when he woke. The absolute perfect thing.

Morgan's hand was cupping his cheek now, thumb stroking over his cheekbone. "Don't move too much, pretty boy. You've got to keep still okay? You…you've got some incisions in your stomach."

Incisions? What…the bullet. That was right. He'd been shot. He tried to open his mouth, to say something, but Morgan's thumb moved to cover his lips. "Hush. They just took that nose tube thing outta you earlier and they said your throats probably going to be sore."

Aaron rolled his eyes and gave Spencer a smile. "It was a nasogastric tube, not a nose tube thing. Point is, you'll be tender for a bit. We'll get some water in here for you in just a minute, once the nurses check you out. They'll want to look at you now that you're awake."

He wasn't able to tell them that it didn't matter. The drugs in his system were already kicking back in, dragging him back down toward sleep. Against his will his eyes slipped shut and his body went back under.

* * *

The next time that Spencer woke, sound came first. Something coming from the left side of his bed, pitched low but still distinguishable. It was a sound he knew very well and that inspired an instinctive response in him. Even as he was blinking his eyes open once more, he was trying to lift his left hand, just barely succeeding in getting it up off the bed a little. Still, it allowed him to move that hand over and, when he got his eyes open a slit, he managed to shakily put his hand over the dark one that rested on the bed beside his. At the touch of his fingers, Morgan cut off whatever he'd been growling about and spun toward the bed, looking up from his chair and toward Spencer's face. Everything about him lit up. "Hey, sleeping beauty."

A corner of his mouth quirking, Spencer managed to croak out a "Hey." It had him wincing from the dryness and soreness in his throat, however.

There was movement on his right and someone stepped up close; a nurse, it looked like. "Dr. Reid, here." The woman held a cup and straw out in front of him. "Just little sips, now. It'll help wet your throat."

He gratefully took a few sips, enjoying the cooling effect on his throat. When she took it away, he blinked and looked back toward Morgan. "The Unsubs?" Though his throat felt better, he kept his words short and to the point. With wakefulness this time came achiness. There was a dull, muted throb from his abdomen that reminded him it was there with each breath he took. He'd ask about that in a minute. Right now, his brain was fully waking up, not clouded by sedation or anything else anymore, and he needed to know what had happened with the Unsubs.

Morgan's hand curled around his in a reassuring sort of way. "Chill, kid. Everything's fine. We got the guys. Well, you got one of them. He didn't make it out of surgery." Morgan sounded entirely too gleeful about that, but Spencer saved that thought for another time. He focused fully on his lover while the nurse was off to the side, checking his vitals. "And the other?" he asked.

"They've got him. Rossi took care of interrogation." Something flashed over Morgan's face, something that worried Spencer. He tried to tighten his grip on Morgan's hand, appalled at how weak he felt. He couldn't even get a good grip. Morgan must've understood, or seen something on his face, because he quickly spoke up. "Shh, kid, stay still now. Come on. Just look at me and chill, okay? Things are all right. Everyone's all right."

"What's going on?" Just because Morgan said everything was all right didn't mean that Spencer could relax. He knew how prone Morgan was to trying to shelter him from things. "Tell me, Derek. Tell me."

Morgan sighed and ran his free hand over his face. "I'll tell you." He finally said. "On one condition. You try not to freak out on me, okay? Keep in mind that we've got everything under control."

Spencer didn't budge. "Tell me."

"Rossi found out who paid our Unsubs to come to the house. It was Haley's friend, Tammi Miller. Apparently Haley had vented to her about our relationship and Tammi decided to take matters into her own hands and try to 'fix' this for Haley. They're positive that Haley didn't know what was going on, thank God. But that's why the guy took Aaron out of the room and why they were going to 'question' us."

"To break us up. She wanted to break us up." Closing his eyes, Spencer battled back the heartache and nausea. Jesus, the measures some people could go to for what they believed was the 'right' thing! How could someone ever think that hurting people was an okay response to fixing something? How could this ever seem like a solution to them? "I can't stand prejudiced people." Spencer finally said softly. "Don't they realize there's enough pain in the world? Why create more over something as simple as people being happy?" A wince cut off his words and he tried not to shift. The nurse was there quickly, hands on his blanket, saying something, but it was all lost on Spencer as one thing cleared his head. Aaron. "Where's Aaron?" he croaked out in just barely a whisper.

"Pardon me, Dr. Reid? What was that?"

"Aaron." He opened his eyes again and looked at Morgan. "Where's Aaron?"

This time it was Morgan who winced. "He's out on the phone with Strauss right now."

Dealing with Strauss. Oh, man. Spencer closed his eyes and then moved his hands, reaching toward his side rails. Hands were abruptly on him, pinning his shoulders to the bed, keeping him from rising as he'd been trying to do. The nurse was trying to hold him down, her voice firm as she said "Dr. Reid, please! You need to stay still!" and Morgan was telling him "Spencer, baby boy, lay back. Everything's okay, baby, just lay back." But they didn't understand. He needed to see Aaron. Right now, he needed to see him. It was embarrassing, how easily they held him down. There was no way he'd break free of their hands. That meant he was going to have to try a different tactic. He looked at Morgan and then at the nurse. "Go get Aaron." He told them in as firm a whisper as he could muster. "Go get him."

Morgan's hands settled on Spencer's shoulders and he looked over to the nurse "Get Agent Hotchner, please. He should be right down at the waiting room. Trust me, he won't relax until you get him." And with that order, Morgan turned back to Spencer, bringing his hands up to cup his face. "Relax for me, pretty boy. Relax. You can't be moving around like that, you hear me? You had _surgery_ yesterday. The doctors said they had to remove your spleen and right now, you need to keep as still as possible in this bed so you don't do any damage. So quit trying to move around. They'll get him for you, baby boy. They'll get him."

Spencer heard the door open and then footsteps rushing over toward the bed. A second later Spencer saw the very face he needed to see. Aaron was there, leaning over the edge of the bed, one of his hands automatically coming up to smooth back Spencer's bangs. "What's going on in here? What's wrong, honey?"

The honey warmed Spencer's insides, just as it always did. He gathered what little strength he had and he lifted his right hand, grateful when Aaron quickly reached down an took it. Spencer made himself meet Aaron's eyes, looking straight at him as he told him "Not your fault." All this talking had dried out his throat and it had exhausted him, but this was important. This, he needed to say. "Not your fault. None of this."

Aaron grimaced. His hand never stopped smoothing back Spencer's hair, though. It continued with gentle little strokes that were making Spencer feel sleepy again. "You just relax, Spencer. Worry about you right now."

"No." Spencer closed his eyes and relaxed for a second before he continued speaking. "You don't get to feel guilty. Not your fault." He squeezed Aaron's hand and Morgan's as well as he felt his other love take his free hand. "Love you. Love both of you."

"We love you too, baby boy." Morgan said warmly. "And we're not going anywhere. Just rest, okay?"

Aaron bent and pressed a gentle kiss to his forehead. "He's right. We love you and we're right here. I promise, we'll deal with all this when we get you home. For now, just rest."

Reassured that neither man was going to leave on him out of misplaced guilt or something, Spencer took their advice. He kept his eyes closed and just relaxed. They were by his side, they were okay, their Unsub was under arrest, and for now, that was enough. The rest could be handled soon enough.

* * *

**And, sorry folks, but this story is almost at its end :O I know, right? Amazing! Most likely there'll be 2 more chapters left and they'll probably be this length or longer. Hope you all have enjoyed the ride and haven't hated me for spotty updates :P I love all your reviews and you've all been wonderful!**


End file.
